Salome smiled hungrily. "Full house. Aces over Archons."

Brand tossed his cards into the center of the table, and Kell nodded politely to Salome. "Your deal." He turned to Allard and shook his head. "So, how is your lance doing, Dan?"

Dan cleared his throat ceremoniously. "Eddie Baker was hoping you could use your influence with your cousin, the Archon, to get us some real duty."

Kell chuckled. "Cousin-in-law, Dan. Tell Baker I'll mention it the next time Katrina Steiner comes for a beer." Kell shook his head as Salome shuffled the cards. "What I really wanted to know was whether Lang is checking out on the Wasp."

Dan nodded, and Kell cut the cards for Salome. "She'll be fine once she works out the differences between a Waspand a Locust.She's game enough, though. No lingering fears because of losing her Locust.The Lieutenant and I will keep an eye on her, and I'll keep you informed on how it's going."

Kell nodded and gathered up his cards into his strong hands. As Dan did the same, he remembered that the cards were of Lyran Commonwealth manufacture, and so he arranged them in descending order. Lacking any Aces, he put his pair of Dukes after his lone Archon. He had no 'Mechs in his hand, either, and so the numbered cards went into proper order. The four suits in the Commonwealth were Fists, Sunbursts, Dragons, and Eagles— the symbols of Houses Steiner, Davion, Kurita, and Marik. House Liao—the weakest of the Successor States—did not rate a suit.

Anne Finn gave Dan two hundred Kroner as a stake. "Not like we're playing with real money, is it?" Dan laughed and used the money to open for ten. After the others had bet or folded and he'd indicated that he wanted three cards, Dan turned to Kell.

"Is the Intrepid'sCaptain still refusing to let Jones ship out with him after he returns here on his next run?"

Kell nodded and rearranged his cards. "We kept up a constant dialogue as his ship headed out to the jump point. He insists that we're too close to the Draconis Combine frontier for him to take a soldier on board."

Dan shook his head. "Thirty years a Tech in the Lyran Services and due to muster out a day after the Intrepid'sJumpShip leaves Pacifica. We can't ground the Intrepid,can we?"

Salome answered while Kell studied his dwinding cash reserve. "ComStar would have our tails in a sling. Somehow that lowlife merchanter weaseled a contract to haul bulk-messages to backwaters like Pacifica, and that's made him inviolate. He's afraid, though, that shipping a Steiner Tech aboard his ship would prompt the folks we know and love as the Combine to confiscate his ship—or worse."

Dan picked up his draw cards and managed to keep the arrival of a third Duke from showing on his face. "We can't just muster Jones out a day early?" Dan glanced up from his hand to see if anyone was watching him, but only Cat met his gaze with a satisfied grin.

Kell shook his head. "The Lyran Commonwealth, which has more salesmen than a cur has fleas, keeps a tight rein on its money and muster-out pay. Master Sergeant Nicholas Jones has to muster out of Pacifica on the 26th of May in order to get any of the bonus pay he's entitled to. If the computer can't check him for voice, retinal patterns, and fingerprints, his bonus goes back into the general fund."

Dan snorted. "Amen. And, in the meantime, the Intrepidjumps out of here and won't be back for another six months." Dan looked up at the windows and watched lightning sear through the near dark. "Six months in this place is like thirty years. There hasto be something we can do."

Fitzhugh laughed. "Why don't you play this hand and you can buy him a JumpShip. The bet's fifty to you."

Ah, Mike, your impatience will cost you.Dan carelessly flipped the money out onto the table. "Call."

Fitzhugh flashed three tens on the table, and then Dan slapped his trio of Dukes down over Fitz's cards. He waited a half-second for Kell or Salome to make a play, then raked in the H-bills toward him.

The second knock barely sounded at the door before Cat Wilson leaped up to answer it. Opening the door a crack, he imposed his muscular body between the person in the hall and the card game. That the Colonel conducted his company staff meetings over a poker game was common knowledge among the Kell Hounds, but the outcome of the games was kept strictly confidential. The informality of the meetings could only survive if the officers knew that winning and losing did not matter. The money and bragging rights won in the weekly games remained among the deepest secrets that the Kell Hounds had.

Cat nodded and accepted a folded note from the messenger in the hallway. He shut the door and carried it over to Colonel Kell. Dan recognized the paper as the thin stock used in the communications center and noticed ComStar's logo boldly emblazoned at the head of the message. He hoped, for the barest of moments, that the message was a transfer of the Kell Hounds to an assignment far from Pacifica. The expression on the Colonel's face quickly dashed those hopes.

Kell looked up from the paper, which trembled violently in his hand. "Dan, I'm sorry."

The tone of Patrick's voice set fear churning in Dan's gut. My God, did someone get to my father?He snatched the message and quickly read it once, then stood abruptly. His chair crashed to the floor as Dan swept past Cat toward the windows. He smoothed out the paper that he'd unconsciously crumpled and again read the horrible words as lightning illuminated them:

WYATTSUPCOMHQ RELAY PRIORITY ALPHA REGULAR Origin: FEDSUNSUPCOMHQ NEW AVALON Classification: Confidential

To: Lt. Colonel Patrick Kell//COMKELLHOUNDS To: Captain Daniel Allard//ATTACHKELLHOUNDS

On 27 November 3026 Major Justin Allard suffered battle-related injuries. Transferred to NAIS Medical Center 15 December 3026. Extensive trauma resulted in crude amputation of left arm. Prognosis for cybernetic rehabilitation awaiting end of induced narcotic coma. Prognosis for survival: Excellent.

Dan felt an icy claw reach into his belly and rake through his guts. He crumpled the message into a ball again and tossed it down to the floor, but none of the others made any motion to retrieve it. Dan's hands knotted into fists as his whole body quivered with rage. No! Not Justin. Not him.

Patrick Kell stood and silently dismissed everyone except Salome and Wilson. The three of them had known Dan since the day he'd joined the Kell Hounds as part of the core of the mercenary company. Though all the Kell Hounds would be sympathetic to the sorrows of a compatriot, the three people standing behind Daniel Allard would share his pain.

Staring out the window, Dan watched drops roll down the stormlashed pane like the tears streaming over his cheeks. How could it be? Why doesn't that message tell me what really happened? Justin's too good a warrior to get hit in a regular skirmish. It had to be an ambush or something.

Dan swallowed, then brushed away the tears. He turned halfway and glanced back at his friends. "Let them read it, Patrick."

Salome bent to recover the note. She pressed it smooth against her thigh, then smothered a gasp as she read. She passed the note to Wilson, but he never took it. His black eyes quickly scanned the sheet, but no emotions showed on his ebon features.

Kell stepped forward and rested his powerful hands on Dan's shoulders. "Dan, we're all sorry."

Dan squeezed his eyes shut against new tears. "He lost his arm, Patrick. He'll never pilot another 'Mech. It'll kill him."

Salome brought Dan a glass filled with three fingers of Kuritan whiskey. "You've had a shock. Drink it."