"Thank you, Captain. I shall write your mother to say that all the training was not in vain." Melissa let her voice drop to the barest trace of a whisper. "And again I thank you for your efforts on my behalf last spring. If the Kell Hounds had not come along ..." Melissa shuddered.

"We did, Highness, and that is all that matters." Dan looked over at the quartet, which was playing the final strains of the song. Releasing Melissa, he bowed. "Thank you, Highness."

"Thank you, Captain." Melissa's smile froze on her face, whose expression became one of fury as she glanced over his shoulder. "Captain Allard," she said. "Do you know Baron Sefnes?"

Sefnes . . . He's Duke Michael's ambassador to the Commonwealth Court.Dan turned formally and appraised the small, dark-haired man who had come up behind him. Looks like another Human rat from New Syrtis, and he's drunk.When he spoke, Dan's voice had became cold and formal. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure, though the Baron's reputation precedes him."

Dan's chilly tone was not lost on the Capellan March lord, but the glazed look in his dark eyes hid whether or not the remark had actually registered. "So, Captain, is it an Allard family trait to abandon the Federated Suns?"

Melissa stiffened instantly, and Dan heard the hushed intake of breath as other guests overheard Sefnes's question. What's your game, viper?Dan thought. "Forgive me, Baron, but I do not understand your inquiry."

Sefnes let a sloppy, drunken grin splash across his pinched features. He hissed his words and a feral hatred showed in his eyes. "Simply asked, Captain, and easily answered. You jumped ship first by having your daddy beg Hanse Davion to assign you to the Kell Hounds. The Prince even gave you a Valkyrieas a going away present. Then your brother left us after betraying the March and nearly getting his command killed in the process." The Baron smiled like a hyena. "I just want to know which Allard is next?"

Muscles bunched at Dan's jaw as he ground his teeth. You insolent idiot. You hated my father because he replaced Michael Hasek-Davion in the Prince's inner circle, and you loathe my brother for his mixed blood. Now you seek to embarrass me, but you only embarrass yourself and the man you serve.

Melissa started to speak, but Dan laid his left hand on her arm. As outrage flashed in his eyes, the tension began to spread through the room, with Lyran nobles and MechWarriors gathering near them. "Get to it, Sefnes. Get to the real question you want to ask."

Sefnes looked at Dan with a sneer. "And what do you, Captain, suppose that question to be?"

Dan licked his lips. "I think you want to know what it feels like to be Justin Allard's brother—the brother of a traitor . . ."

Sefnes smiled and laid his right hand on the Captain's left shoulder. "Exactly!"

Dan took a half-step back and swung his left shoulder from beneath the Baron's hand. The mercenary's left hand snapped up and wrapped itself over the back of the Baron's right hand. Pushing down, Dan locked the Baron's wrist forward, then twisted the hand out to lock the Baron's elbow.

The young Kell Hound reached over with his right and maintained the pressure on the Baron's wrist. "I've always been proud of my brother Justin, Baron. I envied him his entry into Sakhara, and there's not a MechWarrior in this room who would deny that the Sakhara Academy is anything but first class." Dan looked away from Sefnes and saw many MechWarriors nodding agreement. "There, at Sakhara, where the Allard name held no importance, Justin excelled and I exulted in his success."

The MechWarrior rotated the Baron's wrist a bit more and elevated the trapped arm. Sefnes winced and bent slightly forward at the waist to relieve some of the pressure. "I rejoiced even more when Justin earned an AFFS commission and was assigned to the Capellan March. You can't begin to dream or imagine, Baron, my unadulterated joy when I heard of his performance on Spica. No, Baron, you couldn't understand what I felt then, because such emotions have no place in your barren, twisted life."

The mercenary from the Federated Suns smiled cruelly and applied more pressure. "You can ask any MechWarrior here what he or she thought of the plan Justin conceived and helped execute to rescue General Courtney's command on Spica." Dan saw many MechWarriors in the crowd nodding their agreement. "Reckless, perhaps, and desperate certainly—but the situation called for extraordinary measures and it worked. Justin truly deserved the Diamond Sunburst award for that campaign, and my heart swelled with pride when I heard he'd received it."

Dan snarled and twisted the man's wrist even further. He stepped forward and harshly drove Sefnes to his knees. "You say my brother is a traitor, but who among us would not have left the Federated Suns under similar circumstances? Only in your sick mind could that travesty of a trial be considered fair or impartial."

The mercenary Captain paused and looked around the room. He met the gaze of every MechWarrior in attendance. "What you cannot understand, Baron, is that Justin is a MechWarrior. After learning that he would never again be given the chance to lead men into battle, that he would never again pilot a 'Mech, Justin left. On Solaris, he proved himself every bit a MechWarrior, despite the maiming of his injuries. And he proved his worth against the best Solaris had to offer." Dan stared down at Sefnes. "He even won when his opponents cheated."

Dan released the Baron's arm and Sefnes collapsed, clutching his painful limb to his chest. "There's not a MechWarrior here, Baron, who wouldn't sooner die than give up piloting. Justin remained true to himself—to his training and his life. He never abandoned the Federated Suns. Rather, it spat him out!"

The Kell Hound officer turned and bowed his head to Melissa. "Forgive me, Highness, for being so rude." Dan indicated the French doors leading out to the gardens with a nod of his head. "If you will permit me, I feel the need for some air."

Sefnes rose to one knee. "You'll pay for this, Allard. I swear it. You'll pay!"

The mercenary spun and kicked the Baron's leg from beneath him. " 'Ware, viper! I may just cut the coin from your hide." Then he whirled and stalked off as the crowd stared after him in stunned silence.

Dan leaned forward heavily on the garden terrace's stone railing. You idiot! What the hell were you doing in there?He stared out through the darkness at the lights winking atop the distant towers of Fortress Asgard. Because of the thick, gray cloud cover, those strobing lights faced no competition from stars and planets. My actions just now would have been better suited to a brawl in the Asgardian barracks than to an official ball at the palace.

"You care very much for your brother, don't you?"

The woman's strong yet gentle voice sent a shock through his system, and Dan spun about instantly. Silhouetted against the bright lights of the palace, her face was barely visible but he thought he recognized her anyway. "Melissa?"

The woman shook he head and drifted closer. As she reached the railing, the light revealed her hair to be brown and her gown a deep green. Her eyes, like the sequins on her dress, flashed with a green light. "No, I'm not Melissa," she said with a throaty laugh. "Though you're not the first person to make that mistake."

Dan smiled weakly. "Sorry."

"Don't be." She glanced down hesitantly, then brought her gaze up to meet his. "What you said in there touched me ... I thought that perhaps you might like to talk with someone."