“There is always something more, Raul.” She shrugged. “Today, though, is about a challenge.”
“And what will tomorrow be about?” he asked, pushing at her for more information.
Tassa paused, exhaled her frustration, then elbowed her way past him, ducking into the bright, warm morning. “The Steel Wolves have landed assault forces on Ronel.”
That was something more, all right.
Tassa had picked up a military jeep somewhere, and left it idling in a parking space out front. Grinding the transmission into gear, she jumped it back out of the stall and then forward on a wild pace across the small military base. Speed limits meant little to her and stop signs even less, it seemed to Raul, and she finally slammed the vehicle into a spot near the central command building that was marked as officer’s parking only. From there it was two minutes and a short, painful jog down the last hallway before the two of them slipped in through a knot of junior officers and senior enlisted men to grab a patch of wall in Blaire’s command post.
The large wallscreen was back in working order, and Torrent’s large visage already filled it in a portrait of barely-checked rage. Everyone stared at the face of their enemy. But where were Powers and Blaire? The station reserved for senior officers was abandoned and dark.
“Our practices and traditions will be honored,” Star Colonel Torrent demanded, looking down from his position. “If they are not, I can only name you among the stravag treachers who raid out of the Confederation, and I should just as easily believe the Republic capable of hiring assassins and stabbing in the dark with a poisoned blade. This is unacceptable!”
Raul had no idea what the term stravag meant, but it did not sound complimentary. He was still searching for Powers, to watch him give his reply, when Tassa elbowed him in the side and nodded toward a small auxiliary station not four meters past them along the same wall. Sir Kyle Powers stood, looking down into a camera pickup and a diminutive screen filled with Star Colonel Torrent. He wore his full military dress, no doubt anticipating the formal occasion. “Perhaps,” he offered, “you should direct your attention to Lord and Captain Erik Sandoval-Groell. I believe it was his force that threw you out of the Tanager pass.”
“As I have seen no honor among your subordinates, Kyle Powers, I demand satisfaction at your expense instead.”
The Knight Errant considered that for a moment, long enough for Raul to see his purpose behind using the auxiliary station. Facing away from the main wall, Kyle Powers could not be intimidated by Torrent’s looming presence. Instead, the Knight Errant kept his opponent carefully scaled down to manageable size. It might not mean much against the Steel Wolves’ grand scheme for Achernar, but not even a small detail escaped Powers’ attention.
“What if I should refuse you?” Powers finally asked.
“Do you seek total war? An assault on civilian transportation lines and the local industrial base? Aerial bombardment of the HPG station? I can bring that to Achernar if it is your wish.” The thought sent cold chills walking up Raul’s spine. “The Steel Wolves will not be denied.”
“But they would, Star Colonel. You would see to it with such tactics. A population may be held only by popular support or overwhelming force. Such terrorist tactics would ensure that you could never earn the first, and I believe that the Steel Wolves do not have enough manpower for the second. Not”—he held up a hand—“without abandoning all other military considerations.”
Torrent calmed, but in a glance at the wallscreen Raul could tell it was by sheer force of will over emotion. The Star Colonel’s brown eyes looked deadened and flat as he asked, “You are willing to gamble on that?” Raul thought that the entire room might be holding its breath.
“Of course I am not.” Powers spoke in a sad, formal voice. “My first charge is the safety of Republic citizens and residents on Achernar, as it should be with you, Star Colonel. I had not realized that you had so completely foresworn your own oath of service.”
Tassa actually leaned back, as if expecting Torrent to leap through the airwaves with hands ready to grab for Powers’ neck. “And you stain my honor again! I will have justice. A Trial of Grievance, Sir Powers. I will require you to accept personal responsibility for all Swordsworn actions.”
Which Raul believed was only proper, no matter Sandoval’s directions. The Swordsworn were Republic troops. Kyle Powers, however, had the larger picture still in mind.
“I accept your challenge,” the Sphere Knight said with formal grace and a half bow. “In return, I call on you to answer for the Steel Wolves, and swear on your personal honor that there will be no escalation of manpower on Achernar.”
Powers would pull the teeth from any Steel Wolf threat to bring larger forces to bear against the world, limiting the fighting to forces at hand. Of course, if the Steel Wolves were also hitting Ronel, they likely did not have the strength to bring a secondary assault against Achernar anyway.
Still, Torrent balked. “What you are asking is beyond the scope of a personal Trial, Sir Powers.”
“Then we shall expand on our Trial. A small, combined arms force each. A test of your command against my own.” He nodded to one side, and Blaire fed a crystal into a data slot. “I am already transmitting my force composition. I expect you to match them with equal strength.”
Caught out by the Knight Errant’s preparations, Star Colonel Torrent paused for only a brief second. Then, “Bargained well and done! I will meet you on the River’s Run Flatlands in two days time.”
And then his transmission cut out to a field of gray static.
The attending soldiers cheered as Powers also stepped back from the comms station, secure in their belief for the Sphere Knight. Already a daring oddsmaker was calling out wagers, but of course there were no takers in this room. Even at long odds, no one would put money on the Steel Wolves. Except perhaps for Tassa, Raul amended, but even she was apparently politic enough not to answer the wag’s challenge.
Or perhaps it wasn’t politics, he noticed, following her gaze to the data crystal that Colonel Blaire retrieved from the station and then handed back to Kyle Powers. Her pointed gaze betrayed her hunger to be involved in this challenge. Raul figured she had as good a chance as any. Powers might go with heavier armor assets and battlesuit infantry alone, of course, but the junior MechWarrior was willing to guess that Powers had rounded out his combined-arms force with a second BattleMech. Would the Knight Errant publish the list beforehand? Or summon a briefing among command-level officers first?
Then Powers turned, and saw Raul through a gap in the crowd. “Captain Ortega,” he called, interrupting Raul’s thoughts. He gestured Raul forward, then turned for a word with Blaire as Raul and Tassa elbowed their way up through the charged crowd of soldiers.
“Sir,” Raul answered, presenting himself to the Sphere Knight.
Powers handed him the data crystal, pressing it securely into the MechWarrior’s hands. “Pull the duty records for every man on that list. Bring them to Colonel Blaire’s office in one hour. We’ll go over them together.”
“You want my input?” Raul asked, feeling a small swell of pride for at least being invited in on the review session.
Powers looked a great deal graver, though. “I think I should have it,” he told Raul. “Your name is on the list, after all.”
His warm surge of pride gave way quickly to a sharp, two-edged thrill as hands slapped him on the back and a new cheer went up for the ‘defender of Achernar.’ He had been chosen. Not Tassa and not Clarke Diago despite Diago’s seniority. Then the immensity of the task before them reared up and washed over him like the final deluge sweeping over a drowning man. “S-sir! Captain Diago—”