"It's also a lot cruder, and a lot less efficient than a thermonuclear field pulse."

"Right, but we don't need efficiency here."

"No, what we need is fuel! We ruptured our hydrogen tanks in the landing and lost what little was left of our fuel reserves. We're going to have to cook some more H if we're to move anywhere."

"That's just it. We don't need to use H if we convert the drive to a simple reaction mass engine." He sketched rapidly. "We jury-rig intake valves here... here... here... and pump in sea water. The pumps circulate the water through the fusion reactor, which burns the H you have left just to produce heat and keep your weapons powered up. Steam is vented out the tubes. We flood the ship—"

"Flood!"

"Just a little! Just enough to give it some balance and keep the jet tubes underwater, and to give her a bit of a list. Steam blasts out the tubes under water, and you travel in the direction of your list!"

She chewed at her lip, staring at Grayson's doodles. "There are a lot of practical problems."

Grayson waved stylus and pad. "I don't give a damn about practical problems," he said. "You know your ship, and you have a small army of engineering Techs and officers who can lick practical problems. If not, we'll give them guns and stick 'em in with the foot soldiers!"

Use tore her eyes from the pad and brought them up to meet Grayson's. "God damn," she said, and the words were almost reverent. "You want me to convert my DropShip to a steam-powered sailing ship!" She shook her head, then moved the compad aside so she could again study Brasednewic's chart. "I must be getting as crazy as you are, Captain. You’ve got me thinking about ways to..."

She stopped short. "Look, assuming we can do it, what about our Kurita friends? Something as big as a DropShip quietly cruising across their ocean. I don't think they're going to care for that!"

"They know the Phobosis here, at Hunter's Cape. You make the conversion as fast as you can.... Before tonight if possible."

'Tonight!" The word was a wail of protest and horror.

"That would be lovely, thank you! I'm not sure how much speed you'll get out of her, but you have unlimited fuel, and the fusion-heated steam is bound to give her quite a shove. Your speed may be limited by the ship's structural integrity, but Iimagine you'll be moving at a pretty good clip. You'll travel at night. If you leave tonight, we can probably count on this cloud cover holding, and that will protect you from infrared detectors in orbit. I doubt that they have radar scanner satellites in orbit. That'd be impractical on a planet with this much jungle mixed with open terrain. By the time they get a ship here—tomorrow sometime, I imagine—you're well out of their way. Their first assumption will be that the Phobosbroke up in the surf or in high winds. They're not going to believe that we'd actually try to sail her across 500 klicks of open sea."

"You've got thatright."

"If the cloud cover breaks, there's a chance you'll be spotted, of course. With luck, you could make it all the way to this fjord without being spotted, and the enemy'll be left thinking the Phobosis at the bottom of the Azure Sea."

"It wouldn't take much for them to be right" She looked again at the wreck of the DropShip, rolling slightly with the swell now that most of the water had been pumped from her lower compartments.

"You're right" Martinez said at last. "It's worth a try, though God help me, I don't know how we'll be able to sail tonight!"

"We can't wait for tomorrow," Grayson said. "It'll take them at least until then to collect an army to throw at us. But no longer. Not if they want to stop us from stripping the DropShip. They'll be here tomorrow, say, by local noon. You've got to be a good hundred kilometers out to sea by then if you don't want their air cover to spot you."

"You'll lend a hand with your people, and some ‘Mechs for muscle?"

"Of course," Grayson said, thinking about the light ‘Mechs now aboard the Phobos,unloading the Locust."In fact, it would probably be a good idea if you took one of the ‘Mechs along with you. We don't know what you'll run into, once you reach land."

"I wouldn't mind someone riding shotgun."

"Fine. Now, which one? I need the Locustwith me." He trusted Lori's instincts as a scout, and her ‘Mech's speed would be wasted aboard the Phobos."And the Wolverineand the Riflemanare my heavies. You could have Debrowski, Yorulis, or Khaled. I'd suggest Khaled. I know he's had plenty of combat experience. I don't know how either of the other two would handle independent duty."

She chewed at her lip, then said, "Khaled, then. The guy gives me the shivers, but you're right about his experience. It shows, even if he doesn't say much."

Grayson nodded. "Good. I'll tell him."

"Then we'd better get started. So help me, Captain Carlyle, if I get seasick on my deck, I'm going to see to it that you have the fun of cleaning it up!"

Grayson watched Martinez stride down the beach, waving for a skimmer to carry her across the water to the Phobos.The plan to save the DropShip was one born of desperation. So much could go wrong....

Shaking his head, he rolled up the map and returned it to Brasednewic. "What's next for the rest of us, then?" he asked. "Devic Erudin had planned for us to meet with your Revolutionary Council."

"I could take you there, I suppose," the big man said, "but it's a long march through thick terrain. All jungle and swamp, like this"— he waved behind him toward the treeline—"and worse."

"Impenetrable for ‘Mechs?"

"No. At least, I don't think so. We've got some ‘Mechs, you know, but no one who can pilot them in combat.”

“How's that?"

"Oh, we have lots of guys and gals that can operate ‘Mechs because of the many plantations burned out from the jungle below the Basin Rim through here. Most of them use AgroMechs to plant and harvest their crops, and there's a big logging operation off to the east that uses big, four-legged ‘Mechs to cut, strip, and drag trees. Piloting an AgroMech isn't all that different from running one of those things." He gestured toward Grayson's ShadowHawk,standing empty on the beach nearby.

"We've got some BattleMechs, too, left over from the little planetary defense force from the days before Kurita took over. And some were brought in by government militia Mech Warriors who got tired of doing Nagumo's garbage details. Those militiamen are not very well trained, especially not against other ‘Mechs."

That was understandable, Grayson thought, because the Kurita occupation forces would not wish to encourage an active BattleMech force with well-trained pilots within their puppet government's army. They would use Verthandian government ‘Mech lances as oversized policemen on riot-control duty to scatter mobs and to awe disgruntled populations, rather than as actual combat units.

"Anyway, AgroMechs follow those trails all the time. Hell, most of 'em are old forest logging roads made by LoggerMechs in the first place, years ago. Our BattleMechs don't get out much, but when they do, they don't get into trouble if they stay on the main forest roads.

"Off the roads, it's different There are places that'll suck a ‘Mech down in the blink of an eye, mud pits that are as good as bottomless so far as a 20-ton piece of machinery's concerned. But you'll make it if you stick with us."