Sarna March, Federated Commonwealth
6 April 3051
Kai Allard-Liao smiled as his mother smoothed the shoulder of his uniform jacket with a loving caress. "Don't worry, mother. Nothing can go wrong."
Candace dropped her hand from his arm as a fleeting sadness showed briefly in her gray eyes. "You say that so easily, but your aunt is more than capable of causing trouble. It is she who has demanded that you testify before this council of leaders. I can't help but believe she has something nasty up her sleeve."
Justin reached out with his good right hand to give his wife's shoulder a squeeze. "Beloved, try not to ascribe to maliciousness what can better be explained by stupidity."
The ripple of laughter from all three Allards filled the room. Kai felt especially good to see his parents together and somewhat relaxed. Within the pressure cooker that Outreach had become, his little free time seldom seemed to coincide with theirs.
Kai took his mother's hands in his own. "Don't worry. I am ready for anything Romano will throw at me." And I won't embarrass you."I trust Colonel Wolf to keep things in line."
Glancing at his father, he added, "Besides, Father could always just shoot her!"
Justin snorted a laugh, then shook his head. "Now you know why I sit on your mother's left in these councils. She can't get her hands on my left arm."
"This is not as funny as it seems to be to you." Candace's expression tightened, but her eyes blazed fire. "From a military view point, Romano may be virtually impotent, but she is hardly powerless. Indeed, I consider her one of the most dangerous women alive."
Her gray gaze flicked to Justin's black-steel hand. "And as for using that on Romano, I would not. Not here, not now. But if she ever strikes at one of you or the twins or Quint, even death itself will not keep me from avenging you."
Kai felt an abrupt shift in his father's mood. "As in everything else, my love, I gladly share with you this vow." He gave Candace a hug, then steered her toward the door of their chamber. "We'll see you in the Council, Kai. Just be yourself and nothing will go wrong. We love you, and I doubt there are any prouder parents anywhere in the Successor States."
* * *
Kai tugged at the waist of his dress gray jacket as he seated himself to one side of Jaime Wolf's podium. He glanced over to his left and flashed his mother and father a nervous grin. Beyond them and seated all around the semi-circle, he saw the royalty of the Federated Commonwealth, the Free Worlds League, the Free Rasalhague Republic, the Draconis Combine, and the Capellan Confederation gathered to hear him speak, but he noted that none of the other young royals had chosen to attend. He hardly blamed them for wanting to spend their free time elsewhere.
Jaime Wolf nodded in Kai's direction. "I regret taking up your free morning this way, Leftenant Allard-Liao. We have all read the report you wrote after the incident on Twycross. For myself, I found it an insightful, concise, clearly written document. This judgement is not shared by all those gathered here, however, which is the reason we are asking you to answer questions that may further enlighten some of us."
Wolf made no attempt to hide his displeasure at having to devote time to this meeting, when so many other matters were pressing. From what his parents had said, Kai knew that Romano had instigated the whole circus. Glancing over at his aunt, Kai felt ice creep into his bowels. The nasty look in her eyes told him she would show him no mercy.
"Thank you, Colonel Wolf." Kai bowed his head politely. "I wish to be of service."
"Good." Wolf looked out over the ruling families. "Well, then, Leftenant, perhaps you will begin with what happened on the planet Twycross on 10 September of last year."
Kai nodded, as his thoughts wound back in time. At first, the words came slowly. "The Tenth Lyran Guard was involved in an operation intended to liberate Twycross. We believed that the Clans—in this case, the Jade Falcons—had moved all their line units from the planet. We thought that by striking at a world behind their lines, we would face only garrison troops. If we succeeded in taking the world, we could slow their advance because it would mean they had to pull line troops to hunt us down.
"On Twycross, we set up our position in a place that offered us maximum cover and reduced the battle to the closer ranges that favor us over the Clans. The weak point in this position was a mountain pass known as the Great Gash. Our troops placed explosives at the highest point in the pass, and we had a company of 'Mechs down at the westernmost end. We believed the enemy had no troops to send through the Gash, but we were taking no chances. Because of a storm in the area, however, radio contact was poor, so we did not have a full grasp of what was happening at the far end of the Gash when our troops met the Clans on our chosen battlefield."
"So, Leftenant, at some point early on, Victor Davion dispatched your lance to check on the Gash?" Wolf's encouraging smile eased some of the tightness in Kai's chest.
"Yes, sir. He instructed me to go to sector 0227. We had a landline there at the field hospital. Victor told me to use it to communicate to him what was happening. I ..."
Kai faltered. Through the far doors, a trooper in Dragoons uniform was leading a visitor to a seat in the observers' gallery. The visitor wore a uniform similar to Kai's, but her clothing bore no rank insignia. He recognized her short black hair and though he could not see the color of her eyes from here, he knew her gaze was polar blue. What is she doing here?
Kai recovered himself after only a moment's silence. "... I discovered sector 0227 under attack by Toads—ah, the Clans Armored Infantry, what you have called Elementals. I defeated the half-dozen operating in the canyon and ordered an evacuation of the hospital and all the personnel."
"Excuse me," Romano purred, "but did you not also order some men back into the Gash area to detonate the explosives?"
Kai struggled to keep his voice from trembling. "Yes, I did."
"Knowing, as you did, the capabilities of the Toads, you must have sent only men armed with weapons able to defend them against assault by the Toads." Romano's statement stabbed at his heart like a dagger, "I mean, to do otherwise would have been ordering those men to their deaths. Such an action would be very irresponsible, wouldn't it, Leftenant?"
Kai swallowed hard. "Yes, Madam Chancellor, it would be irresponsible." He raised his head and tried to return her stony gaze with calm. "I accept that their blood is on my hands. I made a mistake, which I cannot undo. I can only vow never to repeat such a mistake."
Romano's lids lowered like a tigress lying patiently, waiting for the right moment to strike. "You made a mistake? Is that how you classify sending men to their death? A mistake? What kind of twisted philosophy pervades the Federated Commonwealth military to permit you to make such a statement?"
"Madam Chancellor," Wolf interrupted sharply, "your questions are far from the subject of our inquiry here."
"I do not ..."
"Enough!" Wolf snapped. The irritation drained from the Colonel's face as he returned his gaze to Kai. "After the evacuation had begun, you engaged more Toads. In the course of your battle with them, what happened?"
"I fought with the Toads—at least two dozen of them— and forced them back through the Gash to the highest point of the pass. Once there, I saw a reinforced battalion of Clan 'Mechs. These were front-line units—what you said were called OmniMechs—that we thought had left the planet. Because radio communication was impossible, I knew that the only way to stop them from pouring through the Gash and falling on our troops was to seal the pass."