A touch of fire leapt back into Jessica’s weary blue eyes at the thought of military intrusion at her hospital. She licked her lips, then asked Raul, “You have another idea?”
“That’s what I want to ask you. The Trooper has a good range on it and it can refuel on the other side of the Taibeks if necessary. Where else can you take them? Take them, and hide them?”
“Hide them?”
He exhaled in a long breath. “I don’t want Sandoval to get wind of how many soldiers we return to active duty in the next few days. And for those who need longer to heal, it would be best if they were far out of the way in case we lose Achernar and have to go underground. If you can, I’d like you to classify many of them as deceased or critically wounded.”
“Underground. As in resistance?” She blinked away her surprise. “Are you really planning that far in advance?”
“We’re planning for everything, except for whatever we haven’t thought of. Jess, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important, for Achernar and The Republic. We need to work together here. Please.”
Jessica laughed, short and sad. “Sharing the glory, Raul?”
He shook his head, then gazed around at the wounded and the dying. “There is no glory, Jess. No romantic adventure. What I have—what we have—is duty. Resident honor, if you want. Whatever the cost, we have to try.” He paused, then, “Charal DePriest is dead.”
“I know. And I’m sorry, Raul. I know you got on with her. I also heard that Colonel Blaire reprimanded you for abandoning San Marino to the Steel Wolves. Is that true?”
“I know what I’m doing,” he told her. He wanted to explain about Janella Lakewood, and his hopes that the Steel Wolves’ proximity to River’s End might force the Swordsworn to finally commit to a stronger position than before. In the end, though, he could only say, “You’ll have to trust me.”
Jessica actually looked as if she had expected the request, and surprisingly did not laugh in his face. “What about her?” she asked, nodding at Tassa’s sleeping form.
Steeling himself for the reopening of a raw wound, Raul asked, “How soon until we can have her back?”
“Normally, I’d suggest twenty-four hours rest and another twenty-four under observation. She’s lucky to be alive.”
He knew that. By all reports and the limited footage he’d seen of the battle for Brightwater, the Steel Wolves had struck with a ferocious assault. Led by Star Colonel Torrent, the “diversionary raid” had involved more military forces and generated more casualties than any other action so far on Achernar save the San Marino battle and the Steel Wolves’ initial assault against the planet. Tassa had worked with a heavy armor contingent to hold them back, keeping her Ryoken up long after a lesser warrior might have succumbed to the beating she took.
Torrent had already withdrawn from the field, to take command at the San Marino, when Tassa ran into a trio of tactical Jessies and one of Torrent’s converted AgroMechs. She accounted for two of their number before falling under a final missile barrage. Her squad had rescued her by driving off the last two JES carriers. It had been a heroic stand and was the very reason why any final defense of Achernar needed Tassa Kay on the line.
“We need her by tomorrow, Jess. I don’t know when things are going to start happening, but we can’t do without Tassa.”
A touch of color blushed high on Jessica’s cheeks. “You’ll have her back, then,” she said coldly. Raul started to speak, to tell her he didn’t mean it that way, but she stopped him with a raised hand. “Look. Just tell me what you need and I’ll do my part. Whatever else you’re about, Raul, I know you’ve got Achernar foremost in your thoughts. Just don’t try to work on us right now. All right?”
He nodded, a couple of short, shallow dips of the head. “All right. I’ve got to get outside and make similar arrangements with the local salvage crews, but I’ll be back later to discuss plans. In the meantime, the Trooper crew knows that the local medical staff will be directing them, so get started on whomever you need to fly out first.” He should have left it there, he knew, but he couldn’t resist adding, “And Jess?” He waited for her to look up, and the sorrow weighing down her eyes almost made him stop. “It’s good to have you with us.”
“Yeah.”
She gave him a shrug, leaning more toward a nod than a dismissal. But barely. Raul took that and left. It was a start. He hoped it left him something to build on later.
The hardest lessons, he was learning, were not those that came at high cost to himself. They were the lessons that others kept paying on his behalf.
22
Stage Directions
Achernar Militia Command
Achernar
16 March 3133
Erik Sandoval saw signs of the militia’s strain in the little things. A lack of casual traffic on the base. Tired guards in bedraggled uniforms, both at the central post and standing a weary honor guard in front of Colonel Blaire’s office. The corridor floor not buffed to a military shine. And Colonel Isaac Blaire, holding himself upright with elbows on the desk, eyes red-rimmed from drink or lack of sleep. The militia commander looked such a state, in fact, that Erik missed the office’s second occupant for several heartbeats. Then—
“What is he doing here?” Erik demanded, staring with venomous fury at Raul Ortega.
Ortega had pushed his chair to the inside wall, as far back from the desk as he could conceivably get. He sat extremely still, with arms laid out carefully along both sides and hands gripping the end curve of the armrests. The MechWarrior said nothing in reply. He broke his stony repose only long enough to glance over at Erik, and then cautiously at his commanding officer.
Gesturing Erik to the chair across from his desk, Blaire did not bother to look over at his officer. “He is here because Ah ordered him to be here, should you have any questions.”
The colonel’s tone, Raul’s silence; the two did not appear to be on the best terms. Erik might find a way to use that. “Questions? How about a request for his immediate dismissal?” The young noble turned his chair just enough to be able to watch Ortega out of the corner of one eye. “He abandoned the field, Colonel. Pusillanimous conduct in the face of the enemy.”
Now Raul leaned forward. “Said the commander who parked himself a good kilometer behind the fighting.”
“That is enough, Captain!” Blaire’s bark still had some of its old power.
Erik measured the way Raul stiffened up again, as if turned to stone by the Colonel’s basilisk stare. It gave him a moment to compose himself; Raul’s contemptuous charge had struck a nerve. Since Tassa Kay’s cutting remarks and his recent reversals on the battlefield, Erik found his temper fraying at the least provocation.
“My position that day had nothing to do with cowardice,” Erik said softly, slowly, “and everything to do with setting a strong second line to protect River’s End. When the DropShips arrived, my plans shifted and I ordered an immediate counter-thrust, which would have prevented the Steel Wolves from lodging a foothold so close to the capital. You!” he said, stabbing a finger toward Raul. “You gave it to them.”
Raul folded his arms across his chest. “Now it’s the Swordsworn facing the brunt of any Steel Wolf attack. And you need us—the militia. I like being on this side of the arrangement. No wonder you hid in Hahnsak for so long.”
“Dammit, Ortega.” Blaire’s outburst cut off Erik’s heated response. “You’re acting like a peace-spoiled kay–det and you’re not making this any easier.” With a strained peace imposed between the other two men, the colonel shifted focus and asked, “What about yesterday’s raid? Did you suffer anything in the way of major casualties?”