Kai brought his left hand out from where he'd hidden it behind his back. "I also wanted to make sure you got this. Merry Christmas."
Victor accepted the gift-wrapped box and efficiently stripped it of the red ribbon and green paper. He opened the small box and set both the lid and the protective layer of cotton on his desk. Then he lifted out a carefully fashioned piece of dark jadework. Shaped like a monkey, cinnabar had been inlaid in the jade to give the creature eyes of red. In its right hand, it held a staff and its left hand clung to the leather thong to which the pendant hung. Victor looked up. "A monkey?"
"Yes, but no ordinary monkey." Kai knew from Victor's voice that he was pleased with the gift, yet puzzled and curious about it. "That is Sun Hou-Tzu, King of the Monkeys in Chinese mythology. It wasn't because you remind me of a monkey that I got it for you, but because Stone Monkey and you are very much alike."
"Calling me a monkey, are you?" A smirk lit Victor's face. "You're digging yourself a deeper hole here, Kai."
Kai raised his hands. "I don't think so. Stone Monkey was royalty who hated anyone who gave him hollow titles and deferred to him because of his nobility. He was a mighty warrior who could not be defeated by even the fiercest of the gods. He was also cunning enough to win freedom from Yen-lo-wang for his people. Because of him, monkeys are not subject to death in the way we know it. Furthermore, Sun Hou-Tzu won for himself immortality."
He shrugged. "Being as how you stand to inherit all the worlds of two nations, it's not too easy finding a gift for you. This totem is meant to remind you to always be yourself, no matter what. And if there's any justice, the Stone Monkey will share with you some of his audacious good luck. He'll keep you safe."
Victor smiled and set the box on the desk. "I won't need his protection as long as you're around, or did Sun Hou-Tzu intervene on Twycross?"
Distant echoes of battle played through Kai's mind, but the gratitude in Victor's voice kept Kai's feelings of regret at bay. "I don't know, but I don't see any reason to take chances."
"Nor do I." Victor retreated to the corner of the room and pulled a box from beneath his meager tree. "I didn't think I'd have a chance to give this to you until you'd returned." He extended the package to Kai. "Merry Christmas, my friend."
Kai accepted the package wordlessly. Its white and red striped paper felt crisp and clean beneath his fingers, and the package felt weighty. Kai tipped it up and broke the tape on the narrow end. Carefully and slowly, he unfolded the wrappings.
Victor looked petulant. "That's not how to open a present. You're supposed to tear the paper apart."
Kai raised an eyebrow. "I must have missed that law."
"It's not a law yet," Victor laughed. "Just wait till I take the throne."
Kai chuckled as he slid the box from the tube of wrapping paper. He pulled off the top and secured it to the bottom of the box. "Victor," he exclaimed, "this is great."
Victor beamed as Kai pulled the stainless steel survival knife and plastic sheath from the box. "They told me that it was treated not to rust even in what passes for oceans on this rock. The hilt is hollow and contains matches, some medical stuff, and a cord-saw. You can fix the sheath to your boot and keep it with you in your 'Mech."
"I'll bet that this baby could saw through some 'Mech armor," Kai allowed as he lightly passed his finger over the serrated edge of the blade, "but I don't think I'll want to get that close."
"I know that, but you're the one who had to find alternate transport home from Twycross, not me." Victor gave Kai a devilish grin. "I've got Sun Hou-Tzu to keep me safe, and you've got the knife."
For the first time since they'd landed on Alyina, the sense of impending doom that had weighed Kai down began to lift. "It's best to be safe, but we don't have to worry too much. I keep my bargains."
Victor's brows met, revealing his confusion. "Come again?"
"Don't you remember? When you said you'd get me a 'Mech so I could be in the fight on Twycross, I asked if I had to wait twenty years to thank you for that opportunity. You said yes, so that would mean we were certain to be alive in twenty years. Well, it worked on Twycross, and we've got nineteen more years to go."
The Prince nodded slowly. "Of course, Kai, now I remember. And thanks to you I'm able to hold up my end of the bargain."
"And I you." Kai closed the knife box. "Well, I'd best let you get on with whatever you had planned for today."
"Wait, Kai. How long until you've got duty?"
"About six hours." He hefted the box. "I'll go stash this in Yen-lo-wangand do some reading before watch. Or, if the rumors are true and they've got a holovid of Ken Tom's new discovery, Jake Lonestar, taking the title on Solaris, maybe I'll watch that."
"No way." Victor picked up the Stone Monkey carving and fastened the leather thong around his neck. "You're coming with me to Duke Kuchel's estate for Christmas dinner. I want at least one person there I enjoy talking with."
"But his estate's an hour from here by helicopter. For me to get back in time means we'll only be able ..."
"... to spend four hours there." Victor's grin seemed to match the irreverent leer on the Stone Monkey's face. "You'll save me tracking Galen down and forcing him to call me with 'urgent business' later on. My original plan would have left me stuck there for six hours."
Kai shrugged hopelessly, but felt good. "All right. I'm happy to go with you. Four hours with the cream of Alyina's aristocrats?"
Victor frowned. "Yeah. If worse comes to worse, we'll manufacture a crisis and get back here faster."
Though they found the party was neither worse nor better than expected, the two comrades never did have to manufacture a crisis to save them. Within two hours of their arrival, Kai and Victor were in a helicopter headed back to headquarters. The reports were not good.
The Clans had appeared insystem and would make planetfall in eleven days. And with that news, Kai's premonition of doom returned full force.
36
Unity Palace, Imperial City, Luthien
Pesht Military District, Draconis Combine
26 December 3051
Theodore Kurita's decision to forego formal welcoming ceremonies for the mercenaries pleased Shin Yodama. Having been on Outreach, he disagreed with court protocol experts, who said that such a breach of honor would doom any hopes of a productive working relationship between Combine and mercenary forces. Theodore had reasoned, and Shin agreed, that a formal welcoming ceremony would only give many of the High Command who still felt contemptuous of mercenaries an opportunity to air their counterproductive attitudes.
Shin waited along with Theodore, Hohiro, and the leaders of the Combine defense forces in the cedar-walled reception chamber beneath the palace's helipad. He felt a mild tremor ripple through the floor as the helicopter landed and a shaft of sun streamed down the staircase from above. As the mercenaries began to descend, the whooping of the helicopter rotors drowned out the sound of their boot heels on the circular stone stairway.
Jaime Wolf was the first of the four men to appear. He bowed to Theodore, then approached to offer his hand. "Konnichi-wa,Kanrei-sa/na. I wish the circumstances were better for renewing our acquaintance."
Theodore, having returned the bow in both depth and duration, shook Wolf's hand heartily. "I agree this is not the most pleasant of occasions, but your presence makes it less oppressive. Still, I imagine a Christian hell or two has frozen over because of your arrival here on Luthien."