Andrew leaned back in the chair. "Out of thirty-nine 'Mechs, I've got eighteen operational. I lost four pilots—including Craon. De Molay died when his Jennerexploded. The other two casualties were kids in the militia." Andrew looked helplessly at his hands. "I never even learned their names."

De Velez cleared his throat. "Todd Aiken and Barbara Hardy."

Andrew patted de Velez on the arm. "Thanks." He glanced over at Alanna. "How did your people fare?"

Alanna's voice was low and quiet. "The Fourth Tau Ceti Rangers were not as tough as the Death Commandos. I lost a dozen 'Mechs, mostly lights in the militia. Unfortunately, I also lost eight pilots, including two who survived Sarna. The Rangers hit my right flank hard, causing most of the damage. We stopped their advance, then rolled up their left flank, forcing them back into the minefield we'd laid out."

Morgan smiled broadly. "A half-dozen of the Rangers surrendered, and the crews of their UnionClass DropShips turned them over to us in return for repatriation in Tikonov. I told them we'd do that if they'd perform one service for us."

Andrew frowned as a reckless light began to shine in Morgan's eyes. "What... ? What is it?"

Morgan leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers. "We learned of this assault because one of our agents in the Liao capital managed to get word of it out to us. His life will be in jeopardy when Maximilian Liao learns the raid failed. The second half of our mission is to go to Sian and pull this agent out."

Andrew looked at Morgan as though he'd gone mad. "We've got little more than a battalion here, Highness. We won't stand a chance in hell of raiding the Liao homeworld. They'll blast us even before we get into the atmosphere. It can't be done."

Morgan, his red-gold hair falling down over the shoulders of his black jumpsuit, disagreed with a shake of the head. "I have some equipment being transferred over from my DropShip to one of the Liao craft. We'll head back in their DropShips, repairing our 'Mechs as we go. We'll even use their command circuit to make the trip. They'll know the mission was a bust on Sian— I'm sure ComStar will report such to Liao—but they'll welcome us with open arms."

Andrew frowned. "Max Liao's more likely to blow us up because we failed to destroy Kathil. How do you expect to make him welcome us home?"

A bit of the predator seeped into Morgan's smile. "The same way we'll convince the JumpShip captains to carry us along the route. We'll tell them we're the Fourth Tau Ceti Rangers and that on Kathil we managed to capture Hanse Davion's heir—Morgan Hasek-Davion."

41

New Avalon

Cruris March, Federated Suns

10 September 3029

Pushing herself away from the data terminal, Riva Allard yawned and stretched. My eyes are killing me.She glanced at her chronometer. Oh, God, three-thirty in the morning already. I thought time was supposed to fly when you were having fun, not sorting through all this library data. If I go home to sleep, I'll only get a couple of hours before I have to head back to teach that early class.

"Bet you could use some of this coffee."

Riva whirled at the sound of a voice behind her. Kym Sorenson, a large, steaming cup of coffee in either hand, smiled at Riva. Gratefully accepting one of the plasterine mugs, Riva breathed in the rich aroma. "This is great, Kym. If I didn't owe you a favor, I do now. And if you owe me any, forget them."

Kym grinned. "Sorry to startle you."

Riva shrugged and sipped some of the hot brew. As a scientist, she knew the coffee had not yet achieved a physical effect on her, but Riva felt the warm liquid revitalizing her tired body. "At this hour, anything will make you jumpy. The guards are supposed to keep everyone out of this area. I think there are some experiments over in Lab 13J that could be fairly destructive if they were let loose."

Kym nodded distractedly as she looked around the lab. Four rows of slate-topped lab tables ran the length of the room. On the far wall, over a sink, a peg-rack had been filled with test tubes and beakers. Workbenches with countless devices, from scanning positron microscopes to bipolar spectral digitizers, lined the long wall facing her and took up space on the exterior wall as well. Strange symbols and equations written in various colors of chalk covered the blackboard over toward the right. "So this is Dr. Banzai's home away from home, eh? Almost looks normal." She glanced down at a watermelon clamped in a tensometer. "Why is this watermelon ... ?"

Riva shook her head. "Don't ask. Some of his aides told me that to touch the watermelon was trouble. The doctor has lots of things going on here that can get someone hurt if they don't know what they're for. So I just confine myself to this data terminal and my little workbench over in the corner." She picked up her coffee cup and took another sip. "So, what prompts this mission of mercy?"

Kym shrugged nonchalantly, but Riva saw the haunted look in her eyes anyway. It's been a month since Morgan left, and she's not heard anything. I know she doesn't get along with her family. .. That's got to leave her feeling incredibly alone.

"I couldn't sleep and I saw the lab lights from my apartment ..." Kym hesitated as if remembering an evening spent more pleasantly. "I just hate sitting around waiting to hear that something has happened to Morgan." She looked into Riva's blue eyes. "You've got brothers in the military ... How can you stand it?"

Riva winced helplessly. "First off, I'm not as attached to my brothers as you are to Morgan. Uh, that sounds bad, doesn't it? I'm not close in the same sense ..." As Riva struggled for words, a thrumming, loud vibration began to shake the building. The test tubes in the drying rack rattled against the pegs.

Anger flashed over Riva's face. She shouted to be heard over the roar. "Another of those damned freighters bringing broken 'Mechs from the front for the guys in the weapons lab to analyze." She crossed to the window beside Kym and looked out as the DropShip's ion engines lit up the large commons area between the civilian research center and the military academy portion of the school. "What does that idiot think he's doing? He's supposed to land on the other side of the campus."

Hovering twenty meters above the ground, the OverlordClass DropShip opened its drop pod doors. BattleMechs, tall and dark and emblazoned with the Liao Death Commando insignia, dropped to the ground. Bile bubbled up in Riva's throat, but before she could turn and say anything to Kym, an explosion on the roof of the research center knocked her down.

"What in hell?" Riva shook her head to clear it. The NAIS is under attack by Liao! That's impossible.

Riva tried to get up from the floor, but Kym pressed her back down with her left hand. Kym's right hand pulled up her own trouser leg to reveal a Foxfire needle pistol strapped to her ankle. She drew it and snapped the action back to fill the breech with ballistic plastic needles.

She looked down at Riva. "Stay here. I'll check things out."

Riva shook her head. "No way. I go with you."

Kym narrowed her eyes, giving Riva a cold blue stare. "Riva, I have training in things like this." She hesitated, then smiled weakly. "I work for your father. I'm one of his operatives."

Riva smiled and slid over on her belly to her knapsack. "I know. The second you were assigned to my project as an aide, I knew you were MIIO." She reached into her knapsack and withdrew a Meridian-Nagant Pulsar laser pistol. "I spotted you because I'm my father's daughter—it's in the blood. Anyone in my family would have made you. My father makes me carry this in case there's trouble."