Andrew looked shocked, then laughed. "Captain, if my government were not covering my bills, I'd be down in steerage myself. In fact, as I told the Purser earlier, I expect to get tossed into the general population at meals." Andrew shrugged. "After all, why would I want to be stuck rubbing elbows with folks who'd have nothing to do with me if I were paying my own freight?"

Captain von Breunig smiled warmly and offered Andrew his hand. "Once again, Leftenant, let me heartily welcome you aboard the Silver Eagle."

35

Solaris VII (The Game World)

Rahneshire, Lyran Commonwealth

5 May 3027

Justin shook his head. "He's lying, Gray."

The Capellan translator's head jerked around to stare at the MechWarrior. Justin had slipped into the Cathay tenement through an open window in the rear. He kept his hands in the pockets of his gray canvas jacket, and nodded to the elder Capellan seated between the translator and Gray Noton. "The old man says he does remember where the ammo shipment was hidden."

Noton reached out and grabbed the translator's tunic. "Going to come back and sell me the information later, Shih?" Noton shoved him back into his chair, which then tottered over and smashed the man flat on the floor. "Justin, tell the old man I'll give him 15,000 C-bills if he'll tell me where his unit stashed the ammo, and another 15,000 if the information is confirmed by the discovery."

Justin walked over to the old man and knelt at his feet. He smiled warmly at the elder Capellan and bowed his head. Slowly, lyrically, he translated what Gray had offered.

The older man, the last surviving veteran of an ill-fated Liao offensive against House Marik half a century before, considered the offer, then nodded. Carefully and precisely, he explained to Justin the exact location of the weapons cache. As his recall continued, he added information about the booby traps his people had organized before they were shipped offplanet. Whenever the older man paused to remember, Justin translated faithfully for Noton.

Satisfied, Noton stood and gave the old man a silver wager ticket. Justin frowned, but Noton shook his head. "The bet was placed on your last fight, Justin. You won, remember?"

Justin's face closed. Won the fight, perhaps, but lost as well.He nodded slowly. "So I did." He turned and stared at the Capellan translator. "If you harass this man, if anyone steals his money, I'll come after you myself with Yen-lo-wang."

"Wo-dong.I understand."

Justin jerked his head to the side. The translator scrambled to his feet and left the dilapidated apartment. Noton and Justin bowed reverently to the old man, who spoke once more as they slipped out the door. Justin replied to him, then joined Noton in the darkened hallway.

"What did he say, Justin?" Noton flattened himself against the cracked, plaster wall as three small children ran screaming through the corridor.

Justin smiled as he sidestepped the children. "He invited us back again whenever you felt even more generous."

"And you replied?"

"I told him 'Large in the purse is not soft in the head.' " Noton laughed. The two men left the tenement and walked back down the cobbled back street to where Noton had parked the Typhoon. Two young tongsmen moved away from the car and nodded to Justin. Noton dug into his pocket to pay the boys for watching his aircar, but Justin's steel hand pressed his arm to stop him.

"Don't, Gray. They watched it because of Yen-lo-wangand the respect we showed the old man." Justin returned the tongsmen's salutes. "Money would cheapen you in their eyes."

Noton said nothing until they had both entered the vehicle and the gullwing doors had locked down in position. "You know much about the Capellan ways, but it can't all be blood. I'm half-Marik, half-Steiner, but I know virtually nothing about Marik customs."

Justin settled back against the Typhoon's plush seat. "I left the Confederation with my father when I was five, but I already spoke both English and Capellan without accent. Though my parents had divorced, my Capellan grandparents still considered me a member of their family. I visited them on two occasions—both times when my father had to attend a conference. Ever since graduating from Sakhara, I've been posted on the Liao frontier. There've been plenty of chances to brush up on my skills."

Noton nodded thoughtfully. "Listen, Justin, you know I work as an information broker." Noton jerked a thumb back toward the old man's home. "Finding someone who knows about a cache of lostech is pure luck. Most of the other stuff I do is headwork that requires putting together deals, and usually calls for a lot of organizational skill. It's the kind of thing I know you'd be good at, too."

Justin nodded slightly, but said nothing.

"You must have concluded by now that I have ties into the intelligence networks on this planet. They're all here— Maskirovka, LIC, ISF, and MHO." Noton laughed. "I think even Marik's SAFE maintains a presence here, though the last contingent split and killed itself off during their last civil war."

Noton turned to look at Justin. "I make a very good living doing what I do, and I could use someone with your talents to coordinate matters for me." Noton steered the Typhoon into the underground garage of the building where he maintained an office. "I'd like you to consider becoming my partner."

Both men swung from the vehicle, and Noton waved Justin toward the escalator up to the street level. There, he produced a magkey and opened the back door. Justin preceded Noton into the dark room crowded with cabinets and shelves. The only open space, a doorway in the wall opposite the exit, led to Noton's office.

Justin followed Noton into the office and sank into a chair upon a gesture from the larger man. "What would you want of me?" he asked finally.

Noton sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers. "I'd not ask you to betray your father .. ."

Justin spat on the floor. "To hell with my father, and the whole Federated Suns. What sort of father would put a whore in his own son's bed to spy on him?"

Noton nodded. "Good," he said, unable to keep the pleasure from showing on his face. "Quite simply, Justin, this is the way things shape up. Marik, Liao, and Kurita will pay devilishly well for information concerning Steiner or Davion. In addition, elements within Steiner and Davion will also pay good money for information about themselves."

Just frowned. "You mean Michael Hasek-Davion wants information about Hanse?"

Noton smiled. "Not inconceivable, but that was not exactly what I had in mind. Elements in Steiner are working on other elements in Steiner." Noton turned and pulled a file from a stack on his desk. "In January, Baron Enrico Lestrade asked me to bid on the diversion of a DropShip from its intended course. The same night you first fought here, back in February, he paid me the first installment, and I sent preliminary information to the people I needed to alert."

Noton flipped the fde open. "Less than a week ago, I received an itinerary from Lestrade. Fool that he is, he also included the passenger list. In any event, I have relayed the information to my people to be ready near Fomalhaut to take the ship. They will capture whoever it is that Lestrade's people—meaning Duke Frederick Steiner and Duke Aldo Lestrade—want, and the Dukes will make their play for power at that point."