Almost... she almost continued her own death plunge deeper into atmosphere, but her own well-trained pilot's mind took command and brought the ship's nose up. Like a stone skipped across calm water, the Chippewaskimmed across Verthandi's upper atmosphere, hurtling into space once more. In the planet's shadow and with her drive throttled down, Sue Ellen's ship cooled rapidly. She remained frozen in place, aware only that her thumb still pressed the bright red firing button that had released Jeffrie from his agony. Nothing could release hers, though, as she moaned into the cooling silence, "I hadto, Jeff...I had to..."

* * * *

Sirens wailed across the wide, flat valley lined with broad-bladed stalks of deep blue vegetation. A mobile headquarters, a wheeled, multiple-trailered vehicle that dwarfed the men standing fat its shadow, blared warning through its external speakers. Nearby, a Marauderhulked, motionless and waiting. Across the valley, one heavy Orionand a pair of Stingersalso waited mutely while thunder boomed from a green-clouded sky.

The LeopardDropShip settled to the ground among billowing clouds of dust, whipping bluesward, and venting steam. Her hull armor was scored in several places by recent battle, but the ideographs above the black-on-scarlet circled dragon insignia still picked out the ship's name: Xao.

Colonel Kevlavic stepped down the ladder from the mobile HQ's cab and received a subordinate's salute. "Board the command as soon as its ramps are down. Lieutenant," he said. "I will lead the lance personally."

"Sir!"

His communicator chirruped at his belt, and he touched the switch to receive. "My Lord Colonel," a voice tinned in the speaker clipped to his ear. "Communication received from the Subotai.She has completed boarding of the company of Galleons, and is boosting now. Her ETA at Hunter's Cape is twenty minutes."

"Good."

"We've also got confirmation of close air support from Regis-port, my Lord."

"Very well. Inform Subotai's commander that we should ground at the rendezvous at the same time." He checked his wrist computer. "Make it 1240 hours, local." Kevlavic was not convinced that they would need the Galleon light tanks, but they would provide useful close support and covering fire if there were rebel forces in the vicinity. ‘Mech operations in the Silvan Basin were always hazardous. Small rebel units were everywhere and anywhere. Though they posed no real threat to ‘Mechs. A determined attack could threaten the defensive perimeter established around a DropShip landing zone.

Below him, the Xao's ‘Mechholds gaped wide. The Colonel brought the transceiver to his mouth. "Stand by, Com Central. We're moving." He clicked to battle frequency. "This is Kevlavic. Lance, form up for boarding."

As the three ‘Mechs began lumbering across the valley toward the LeopardDropShip, Kevlavic climbed the ladder dangling by the leg of his Marauder,hauled himself through the narrow belly hatch, and slid behind the battle machine's controls. He swung the neurohelmet and its trailing tangle of cables down from its mount and secured it across his shoulders, then checked the adjustment of the feedback loop that would mesh his sense of balance to the great machine's electronic actuators and coordinators. The Marauderstirred and lifted one armored foot. The thud of its ponderous steps hammered through the ‘Mech's open cockpit hatch as it began moving toward the valley.

The Governor General's instructions had been most explicit Though the mission was a simple one, Nagumo's face and manner had showed his concern that it be successful. And when the Governor General was concerned, Colonel Kevlavic was concerned. It was a good way to retain rank, honor, and life.

The intruder ship had been badly damaged during the last moments of its approach to Verthandi, and probably was destroyed during its spectacular flaming re-entry. Planet-bound radar and the combat scanners aboard the Xaohad tracked its trajectory across the northern hemisphere of the planet They had lost the signal under the clouds, somewhere among the jungles, marshes, and salt dunes of Hunter's Cape, along the coast of the Azure Sea, six hundred kilometers north of Regis.

It was unlikely that either vessel or passengers had survived, but an immediate inspection was still vital, Rebel forces were strong along the Azure Sea coast, and further east, in the Vrieshaven District Even if the blockade runner's crew was dead, the rebels might be able to salvage cargo and military supplies from the shattered wreckage. They might even find BattleMechs still cradled in their travel cocoons. Even more important, the wreckage might contain some clue to the intruder DropShip's origins and masters.

Nagumo's orders had also gone out to the two Kurita DropShips in the system. They were to ground, not at Regis, but to the north, at the edge of the Bluesward Plateau, where a company of light tanks attached to Kevlavic's command and one lance of his own ‘Mech regiment awaited their Colonel's return. Though such a mission would normally be assigned to a company Commander or even to the Lieutenant in command of a single ‘Mech lance, this was a special case. Colonel Kevlavic was not in the habit of delegating to junior officers when the mission was as important to the high command as was this one. He would personally search Hunter's Cape for the crash site of the downed intruder DropShip.

The operation's only possible weak point would be if there were any problem coordinating the Xao'slanding with the Subotai's,A delay in either ship's arrival would leave the other ship's forces without support

As he backed his Marauderinto the harness supports in the Xao's hold, the Colonel dismissed these thoughts. In twenty minutes, his ‘Mechs would be on the ground. He had no doubt that they could handle anything they were likely to find at the crash site, be it survivors or the whole, damned rebel army. AeroSpace Fighters from Regisport would provide close air support

Kevlavic was sure the Subotai'stanks would not even be needed.

* * * *

A hundred kilometers above the cloud-swirled ochers and greens of Verthandi's surface, the SubotaiCaptain had noted the automated distress beacon of a small craft. The ship was on a free-flight course close to her own vessel's, and so she altered course to intercept it The Captain assumed that it was one of the Kurita fighters damaged in the short battle with the intruder DropShip.

It turned out that she was wrong. The damaged fighter was a Chippewa,a design not in use in Kurita space. The young woman that the Subotai'sTechs pulled from the cockpit seemed to be in shock, unseeing, unspeaking.

The Captain ordered a medic to care for the prisoner and that she be given food and a comfortable place to sleep. Though the war was over for this pilot, the SubotaiCaptain had heard enough rumors about Kurita interrogation units that she wondered if the young pilot might not have been better off in her metal coffin in space. That was not for her to decide, though, and she knew it It was her duty to report to her superiors with the prisoner, not to tell them what to do with her. Besides, she might even get a commendation for the chance capture of one of the enemy pilots.

With silent bursts from her steering jets, the Subotaieased back into a re-entry approach vector that would take her and her cargo of Galleontanks to the rendezvous at Hunter's Cape. She would be arriving late.

* * * * ...

Tollen Brasednewic held up one hand, and the ragged line of soldiers behind him froze in place. Their guide slipped through the twilight created by the jungle foliage, while they waited, straining every sense against the background warble of unseen lifeforms. Chirimsims brayed and chirped in the distance.