Le5739 falcon rising, p.20
LE5739 - Falcon Rising, page 20
"You are saying that the men who attacked me in the alley were assassins?"
"Most assuredly."
"How do you know that?"
"Some of it comes from Kael Pershaw and his Watch. Pershaw has learned to crack any information system, outwit any idiot with information. I do not favor clandestine activities, and saKhan Clees despises them, but we must have them, I am afraid. Anyway, he gave me not only the news about the attack on you, but the name of the assassins. The main one was a brute named Olan. In the bandit caste, he was known as the 'saint without mercy.' "
"Saint? The man was no saint!"
"Among bandits he is. I am not sure of the origin of the phrase."
"Well, I hope to see him dead some day. If I could kill him myself, I would consider it. But there is one drawback: my memory of that evening is all a blur. I cannot recall what he looked like. I am glad to find out his name, at least."
"I wish I could arrange to have him killed for you, but even as Khan I draw the line at deliberate assassination and murder."
Peri was suddenly tired, a residual effect of the attack. Although she had been cured, there were still some pains and twitches that would probably remain with her to the end of her life.
"Can anything be done about Balzac and his murderers?"
"Not right now. Perhaps in the future. Right now, with disruption throughout the Clans, the scientists have an edge they never had before, an opportunity to conspire more freely. I sense they might accelerate their activities, thinking they are not being observed. I cannot have that, and for that reason I am going to ask you, Peri, to accept an assignment from me, one that will be of immeasurable value to the Jade Falcons."
Peri was flabbergasted by Marthe's words. She had expected merely to report and be dismissed. She had not even expected the Khan to take her seriously.
"This may cause you to violate your oath as a scientist. I do not like asking that of you, but this is my first chance to place an agent who is also a scientist within the caste ranks, and I am eager to take it."
"Spy? I do not know if I could—"
"Permission to speak," Samantha said.
"You always have that permission, saKhan."
Samantha stood and began to pace between the chair and the office door. "I know a lot about you, Peri. I have even examined the codex of your cadet days. You washed out of cadet training, but at heart a trueborn will always be a warrior. We need you as a warrior in the field, on a military mission under the orders of your Khan. I would think that loyalty to the Khan and the Clan outweighs simple caste loyalties. I suggest that the mission itself, especially if accepted in warrior spirit, releases you from caste secrecy. And anyway, if we do not act against this conspiracy of scientists, we will continue to dilute the genetics of our warriors. Therefore, any data we can assemble about these clandestine projects is useful to all castes."
Peri blinked. "That is all too metaphysical for me, but I accept your statement that the good of the Clan overrides caste loyalty."
"Then you agree to discover what you can," Marthe said. "For the Clan."
"And for you, Marthe Pryde. But I am not exactly in favor among Balzac and his scientists. What can I even do?"
"Return to favor," Samantha said. "There is nothing a fanatic likes better than to welcome a prodigal back into the fold."
"He arranged to have me murdered."
"Praise him for that, if it comes up."
Peri had left the office soon after that and returned to Ironhold, to these tense moments outside the Scientist-General's office.
* * *
Etienne Balzac did seem smugly satisfied at Peri's "conversion."
"I am pleased you came to see me," he said toward the end of their meeting. "It seemed to me that, in your apparent opposition, we were losing the benefit of one of the sharpest minds among Jade Falcon scientists. In volunteering for a new assignment, you show your true loyalty to the caste."
"Scientists are meant to seek answers, and I may question, but my loyalty should never be in question," Peri managed to say without choking on the words.
Balzac seemed pleased.
"Scientist-General, I have one request now."
"Make it, Peri Watson."
"Since I know about the sibko at Kerensky Forest, and since I am from the same sibko as Aidan Pryde, I believe I could do valuable work there. It would also return me to my specialty of genetic research. Work I carried out in my earliest assignments in the caste has been applied to the current experimentation, and I am certain I can continue to make a contribution to the Kerensky Forest station. I formally request reassignment there."
Balzac frowned and thought for a long moment. Finally, he said, "Very well. I see your logic and will approve your request."
After he had dismissed Peri, Balzac called in Olan, his captain of the guards. The tall, nearly emaciated Olan stood as usual, at calm, expressionless attention. As he spoke, Balzac's hands were busy on the desk surface, rearranging already neat piles of paper into other neat piles of paper.
"Peri Watson, whose elimination you and your cohorts did not achieve, will be reassigned to the Sibko Training Center at Kerensky Forest."
"You wish her eliminated there?"
"Not yet. She has, well, recanted and we must see if the recantation is genuine."
"Why not just kill her, then the doubts would be meaningless?"
"You still think like the bandit you were. Wastefully. She is a valuable tool, this Peri Watson, and I think we can use her abilities, especially in our experiment at the Sibko Training Center. Further, we might attribute one attack on her to street violence, but a second might draw too much attention to her. If we have reason to kill her, we will do so, but it must take place away from here. So the Training Center is a good place. Place two of your guards into the security crew there to monitor her activities."
"It is done, Scientist-General. Should they report any suspicious activity, I will travel there myself to deal with her."
"She has seen you. She knows who you are."
"I doubt that. We passed in the corridor. She looked at me without recognition."
"Nevertheless, stay out of her way for now. As always, I will use you when I need you."
"Very well."
Balzac sat at his desk a long while after Olan had departed. As he thought, he tapped his fingers on the surface of his desk. Then, as was his habit, he forgot the Peri problem and began to deal with the next item on his agenda. It was just this skill at compartmentalization that had been the key to his meteoric rise from lowly bureaucrat to commander of the whole scientist caste.
28
Steel Viper Hall
Hall of the Khans, near Katyusha Strana Mechty
Kerensky Cluster, Clan Space
8 May 3060
"Now is the time to destroy the Falcons," Natalie Breen said softly, her voice nevertheless filling the dark room.
Perigard Zalman nodded, then realized that she could not see a nod in the darkness. "Aye, Khan Natalie. It is what we have come to discuss."
Natalie's voice, coming out of the shadows, had an eerie quality. "The invasion corridor, that is where the fight must be engaged. We have been watching Marthe Pryde long enough now. We read her like a book. She most surely plans to move against us, but the Viper must strike first. Let us build up our strength in the Inner Sphere and take the Falcons by surprise."
"She is so full of herself these days," came the voice of the third person in the darkened room, that of Khan Brett Andrews. "So high and proud over her victory against the Inner Sphere. But she has her hands full. The Falcons are still not up to strength or readiness."
"Aye," Natalie said, for once in accord with Andrews. "The Falcons look good on paper, but we can best them. Many of her units are still short, despite what the rosters show. Our training is the truest and the harshest of all the Clans. No freebirth scum taints our touman. The Falcons cannot stop us, if we plan well. Let us seriously reinforce our personnel in the invasion corridor, then strike with the swiftness of the Viper. We can seize a swath of worlds before the Falcons even know what has hit them."
"Kael Pershaw's Watch is the best of all the Clans, except perhaps the Wolves," Andrews said. "They will take note of any extraordinary troop movements, or any other change in our normal procedures."
"Not if we take certain measures," Natalie said. "We can disguise our activities. Troop ships can appear to be something else. First, we increase the number of troops rotating to the Inner Sphere. By hiding this troop increase in plain view, we will certainly get the attention of The Watch. They will congratulate themselves on discovering the Steel Vipers' 'secret' agenda and will look no further for deception. After all the Vipers are so transparent." Natalie let scorn fill her voice with those words, then went on matter-of-factly. "At the same time we significantly increase the number of ships in use by the merchant caste. We will, of course, have to manipulate our shipping data, which is Pershaw's main source of intelligence. But thinking he knows what the Steel Vipers are up to, he will hardly notice."
She laughed softly. "Those additional DropShips will be transporting nothing but warriors to the Inner Sphere. We should employ only the largest ships available. It will strain our resources here, but the added space will drastically increase the number of troops and supplies we can put into place. We will not be able to keep up the deception for long, but it will be enough. By the time Pershaw and The Watch realize their mistake, it will be too late."
"Unacceptable," Andrews snorted. "You know how warriors feel about honorable combat. They will detest being part of such subterfuge."
"Rubbish. Our Vipers are just itching for a chance to fight the Jade Falcons. They will welcome the chance to catch them napping. What do you say, Khan Zalman?"
"There is merit in your plan, Khan Natalie. The Falcons outnumber us on the books, but Marthe still has many slots to fill and a long way to go before all her new troops form a unified fighting unit. As Brett says, she is preoccupied with manpower activities here at home and will not likely move against us yet. We still have time to gain the upper hand."
"I suggest we begin immediately. The time is right. My thought is to send in Delta Galaxy."
Brett Andrews made a sound in the back of his throat that was just audible to the others in the room. Zalman recognized it as a sign of disapproval. He understood his saKhan's concern, but the steel viper was known as much for its stealth as for its bite. Not a leaf or a branch or a stem of grass moved to reveal its passage through the jungle.
"Brett," he said, "I would like you to begin immediately working out the logistics of deploying troops into the invasion corridor. You should find Natalie Breen of great assistance in this. Her recent report on our military status was most thorough."
Brett was silent for a moment, then said quietly, "I will do as you ask, my Khan. Civil unrest on the occupied worlds kept us from cleaning up after the Refusal War. We will finish the job now."
"Good. I knew I could count on you. You and your Fourth Guards won us several Falcon worlds after Tukayyid. They have good reason to fear you."
After some further discussion of strategy and tactics, Zalman and Andrews bade Natalie Breen a ritual goodbye. As the two walked down the corridor away from her office, Brett grumbled a bit more in the back of his throat.
"SaKhan, you have been grumbling since we got here. Do you wish to speak what is on your mind?"
Andrews gave him a sideways glance and hesitated a beat that made him fall behind Zalman's pace. Catching up, he said, "What disturbs me is this—I do not know what to call it—this link between you and Natalie Breen. Even though she was once Khan, I do not see why you consult her so eagerly."
"I was her saKhan for some years. I saw how intelligently she could analyze a situation, be it military or political. I respected her so highly and for so long that I have never quite lost the feeling that I should bow to her wisdom."
"That is precisely what I am talking about! Excuse my bluntness, but with her you act like an apprentice to a master. You are the master now! Natalie Breen once held power, but no more. In freebirth life, when a master is retired, the apprentice takes over. He does not go running to the former master each time a nail is off center."
Zalman stopped walking and laid a hand on Brett's shoulder, halting his progress also.
"How do you know that? What do you even know of freebirth life?"
"Not much, I admit. But I do know that there is something wrong with your keeping Natalie Breen around and consulting her on significant matters. She is not Khan any more, for good reason! She failed. She accepted the failure and resigned. You should do what all that means. Put her out to pasture!"
Zalman smiled. "I suspect you do not know much about pastures either. Natalie Breen would die if she were sent away. Hers is one of the best military minds I have known. I use it the way I use any valuable tool, the way I use anyone who can help me achieve my goals—the way, in fact, I use you, Brett Andrews. You are the fire I need to make the Steel Vipers more powerful. I need your bluntness, your rage. In the same way I need Natalie Breen's coolness, so that we may attack with both fire and ice."
"You would drown and burn your enemies simultaneously?"
"Not a bad idea. In that way I get help from both of you. And anyone else I can employ to assert Steel Viper supremacy. The Clan is all, quiaff?"
Andrews nodded and repeated the ritual Steel Viper maxim. "The Clan is all, my Khan." Then, "I still would advise my Khan that there is danger in permitting the meddling of the former Khan."
"What kind of danger?"
"Perhaps she would like to regain her seat as Khan."
"Natalie Breen knows that will never happen."
"I wish I could agree."
As the two resumed walking, Perigard Zalman sensed that, instead of convincing Brett Andrews, he had merely intensified the standoff. He would have to watch this man closely. Brett Andrews, so obviously ambitious, might be capable of anything.
In her room Natalie Breen thought about Brett Andrews for a few minutes, then decided she could handle any roadblock he could put in her path. Not that there was anywhere she wanted to go just now.
No, that was not quite true. There was someplace she wanted to go. Back into the cockpit of a 'Mech. Resigning as Khan had not been enough. She had to redeem her failure, and there was only one way she could do that. By piloting a 'Mech to heroic victory.
She knew Perigard Zalman would fulfill any reasonable request from her. Now she had one to make.
PART II
THE INVASION CORRIDOR
June 3061
29
DropShip Turkina's Command Inbound, Bensinger System
Jade Falcon-Steel Viper Occupation Zone
4 June 3061
It had been months since Marthe Pryde had left Strana Mechty, and she felt better than she had in a long time. Anticipating battles to come, her spirits soared. Aboard the DropShip there were no Grand Council meetings, no bureaucratic crises, no supervising war preparations to the point of readiness for just this moment, when she would first engage the Steel Vipers on the planet Bensinger.
Marthe was pleased with the thought of the battle awaiting her. The Falcons had been saddled with the Steel Vipers for too long. Now they would exterminate them like the vermin they were. She needed to consolidate her position in the Inner Sphere and that meant the Vipers had to go.
Marthe and a fleet of JumpShips were already on their way to the Inner Sphere with their own plan of attack when the Vipers had suddenly struck at a number of Falcon worlds in the invasion corridor. That had been two months ago.
The first wave of the Viper campaign, was—according to the reports—wildly successful. They took a whole string of planets with relative ease, forming a kind of noose from Toland all the way to Quarell along the Wolf-side border. With the Falcon garrisons weak and unprepared, the battles had been fierce but quick. Marthe, however, had long been expecting a move by the Vipers, and had put in place various contingency plans that would save as many troops as possible. Once the battles for those worlds became impossible to win, almost all of her forces had engaged in tactical repositioning, withdrawing to other Jade Falcon worlds.
Almost immediately the Vipers launched a second wave, trying to close the noose around another seven border worlds. It was a good plan with a fatal flaw. Believing the Falcons overwhelmed, the Vipers had left the coreward sector of the corridor poorly defended.
It was there that the Falcons would spring their surprise, with the help of the Wolves. Vlad had granted her ships safe passage, allowing the Falcon fleet to emerge undetected on the spinward side of the invasion corridor. Except for normal prebattle edginess, Marthe Pryde was happy. It felt so good to be on the attack again.
Truth be told, she had never really wanted anything else from life but to serve her Clan as a warrior who would one day die a glorious death in combat. For her, that was the way of the Clans. As a cadet, she used to think she would do anything to achieve her goal. How hard-nosed she had been then.
Thinking about her cadet days brought back, as always, the memory of her Trial of Position, when she had not only defeated the 'Mech that qualified her but also a second 'Mech piloted by Aidan. He later reproached her furiously, demanding to know why she had targeted him instead of one of the 'Mechs assigned to her as an opponent.
Marthe hardly knew the reason, then or now. It was the act of a warrior and she would do the same thing all over again. It was right; it was even destiny. By killing two 'Mechs she had entered the ranks as a Star Commander. That had spurred her onward, prodding her to develop command abilities from the first days of her life as a warrior.
She remembered the fury she had seen in Aidan's eyes after his defeat, when she had walked past him without speaking. For a moment she had wanted to turn around and wish him luck, but something held her tongue. She was young, just blooded. She was a warrior, while Aidan had become a tech. To this day, Marthe felt uncomfortable around other castes, especially freebirths. She wondered what Perigard Zalman would say if he knew that.
