Wordlessly, Redburn signaled his men to spread out. He positioned de Mesnil on his right and indicated that he should watch the shadow-strewn warehouse's upper floor and roof. He moved Craon ahead and in next to the buildings on the left. Redburn advanced cautiously and kept his pistol cupped in two hands.

Suddenly, a silhouette appeared on the building's roof. A long, flickering spear of flame stabbed into the darkness, and the accompanying staccato explosions echoed through the alley. Redburn dove forward and rolled toward the building. Bullets slashed through where he had just been standing and peppered him with fragments of hot lead and sharp stone.

De Mesnil dropped to one knee and triggered a short burst. The shadowed assassin screamed and dropped his rifle. His lifeless body pitched forward and landed in the alley bare moments after his gun clattered to the street.

Craon moved forward and crouched by the body. "Laser burn on the shoulder. He's the one I shot."

De Mesnil helped Redburn to his feet. "Are you O.K.?"

Redburn nodded. "Yes. But what are the chances of him having found that assault rifle in just any building?"

Craon grinned. "Slim and none?"

Redburn nodded. "Let's be careful, gentlemen, because unless I miss my guess, we've just located a Maskirovka safe house. Heaven alone knows what little goodies are stored in here. Let's go find out."

10

Sian

Sian Commonality, Capellan Confederation

20 December 3027

Justin Xiang looked up from a desk crenelated with stacks of leather-bound books and haphazardly stacked computer reports. He smiled wearily at his visitor, yawned, and moved his keyboard from his lap onto the desk. "Glad to see someone else is playing fast and loose with the photon budget this late at night."

Tsen Shang nodded and closed the door behind him. Lowering himself into a massive, brown leather chair, he shut his eyes for a second. In a low voice hoarse with fatigue, he asked, "If we have as much staff as we want for this crisis team, why are we doing all the work?"

Justin chuckled. "I can assure you that some of our staff, like Alexi, for instance, are asking themselves the same question."

Justin bowed his back until he felt his spine crack in a series of ascending pops. "Even though we skimmed the cream of the Maskirovka for our staff, everyone else is covering themselves. We're certainly getting data faster than ever before, but nowhere near as quickly as we need it. And so it falls to geniuses like you and me to make the leaps of logic needed to get any use out of what we do know."

Shang opened one brown eye and stared at Justin. "I like the part about us being geniuses, but this late at night, the rest went right by me." The diamond chips imbedded in his long fingernails caught and amplified the room's mute light as Shang covered a yawn with his right hand. "Are you still playing with the Davion budget figures?"

Justin nodded and glanced over at the computer screen. "Yeah. What do you need?"

Shang glanced at the memo-computer in his left hand. "Disbursements to the Lyran Commonwealth Monopole Company."

Justin punched the request into the computer, then watched information scroll past. Bars of green light drifted up over his face, then stabilized. "Fiscal 3027, which ended in July past. I've got 30,000,000 C-bills, give or take. Are you still working on the Silver Eaglething?"

"No. Shipping costs for the Hatchetmenbeing moved from the Commonwealth to the Federated Suns. Monopole's second and third quarter earnings are grossly out of line with what our people project for their business. They had a couple of ships refitted in the Federated Suns, at the shipyards on Kathil. I thought that perhaps they stuffed Hatchetmeninto their ships due for renovations, and then dumped them at Kathil."

Justin nodded. "Good thought."

Shang shrugged. "That's all it was. The payments tally with supposed payments when Hanse commandeered some Monopole vessels for Galahad '26." Shang leaned forward and cradled the memo-computer in both hands. "Any luck with your pet project?"

Justin sank back into his high-backed chair. Yes. I've had luck, but all of it's been wretched... He sighed heavily and shrugged as he held up his hands. "Yes and no. There's enough vagueness in the NAIS budgets over the last two years to cover the funds needed to maintain a secret BattleMech development facility. I know it's there. I heard enough rumors during my years in the Federated Suns military to believe that it truly exists."

Shang nodded solemnly. "You and I both accept its existence. Ever since 'Mechs first appeared on the battlefield six hundred years ago, they've dominated warfare and decided the fate of Humanity. Unfortunately, the first of the Succession Wars did so much damage to 'Mech factories and research facilities that no one has produced anything new in almost two centuries."

Justin winced. "That was until recently. Dr. Banzai's design for the Hatchetmanis new, as is our Ravenand Kurita's Grand Dragon"

Shang nodded. "That's the point I was headed toward. It's only natural for the Federated Suns to have an ongoing research effort to develop new 'Mechs and equipment. They're the most technologically advanced of the Successor States. The NAIS alone has produced wonders." Shang smiled and nodded toward Justin. "Your left forearm and hand, for example."

Justin shivered. It's just a Federated Suns replacement of what I lost in its service."Your point is well taken. The rumors I heard were of 'Mechs with greatly increased physical strength, which means work on myomer muscle fiber or structural redesigns."

Justin pushed his chair back from the table and walked around to the map on the wall. Shang turned in his chair to follow Justin's movement. The slender analyst tapped the map with the steel index-finger of his left hand. "Because of the political difficulties between Hanse and Michael, I'm sure that Hanse wouldn't have placed the 'Mech research center any further from Terra than Daniels."

Shang thought for a moment, then nodded. "Any deeper into the Capellan March and Duke Michael would certainly learn of it."

Justin smiled. "And we'd hear of it from him . . . unless he's holding out on us?"

Shang yawned. "He's not smart enough."

But is he that stupid?Justin moved his hand down the map. "Because of Kurita raids, I know it's no closer to Terra than, say, Chesterton. But it can't be too far from New Avalon, either. I've got a half-dozen candidates, but Goshen, Axton, and Bethel lead the list." Justin jerked a thumb back toward his desk. "Let's hope those reports will cough up evidence of a chunk of money heading to one of those worlds."

"That's one way." Shang stretched. "We could also raid those worlds."

Justin looked at his aide for a long moment. "Let's narrow the selection down this way, then use our resources more economically. Face it, raiding six worlds means we alert Davion to what we're searching for in his space. I'd rather hit one or two worlds with concentrated force and take what we want without tipping him off beforehand."

"Well, good luck. I'm off to bed."

"Sleep well," Justin said, though he was still studying the map.

Shang stood. "Who said anything about sleep? I don't think I've slept a full night since we took this assignment."