"Probably trying to absorb the impact of the Wolf Clan batchall.I do not know if Kael Pershaw expected that the prize of the battle would be the gene heritage of his own bloodline. It is an insult of the highest order."
"Insult? I thought trues regarded their blood heritage as something sacred. I think I'd like it if an enemy wanted to fight over my bloodline. Quite an honor. Of course, my blood heritage is a seamstress and a comm-tech. Not much to fight over there, and of course, it's difficult to obtain the genetic materials from them now."
"Do not be obscene."
"Is it obscene? I'm only referring to my own parents."
Aidan felt a twinge at hearing the word parents.
Some of his old trueborn legacies, feelings about free-borns and reactions to words referring to procreation, were so ingrained that they still rose up as instinctive responses. He hated the casual way frees tossed around words relating to the birth process and parental matters. Motherhood, womb, fathering—words like that. He, like all trueborns, knew no parents. Truebirths were born out of metal containers that they often liked to refer to as canisters or iron wombs. Any talk of lower-caste birthing and parental matters was disturbing, not only to Aidan but to all trues. Freeborns were often beaten for the mere mention of their so-called natural births.
For warriors, it was the canister that was natural, not the repellent and even dangerous procedures that produced freeborns. At any rate, warriors knew the theoretical advantages of their caste. Genetically engineered humans, it was said by the experts, represented the most perfect beings in the evolution of the race. Natural births, with their random genetics and casual DNA factors, could not possibly compete with the union of the genes from successful warriors that were "mated" scientifically in laboratory vessels.
Kael Pershaw regained his composure and responded.
"I am Star Colonel Kael Pershaw of Clan Jade Falcon, commanding the Glory Station Garrison Cluster. I will meet any foe on Glory Plain or in the skies above with the forces that I now designate."
Pershaw's hand moved to the console in front of him, swiftly slapping one button, then another, and then, after a second's hesitation, a third.
"Seyla," intoned Pershaw as his hand hit the transmit switch that would send the Clan Wolf Colonel a history of his forces.
"Seyla," intoned Star Colonel Mikel Furey as the Wolf Clan leader broke communications.
The batchallhad ended. Aidan glanced down at his beeper. The light had not gone out.
The batchallhad ended, and Kael Pershaw, as was his right, had submitted his bid. Aidan's beeper light had not gone out, which meant his Star was still part of the forces being bid to defend Glory Station.
* * *
At his own bidding place in the bridge of his DropShip, Dwillt Radick evaluated the forces Clan Jade Falcon had committed.
"I see he is using the new troops in the incoming DropShip," Radick said.
"Yes. You knew he would."
Radick nodded with some pleasure. He liked to hear Craig Ward give him due credit.
"Very well. As junior, Zoll must bid first. He is timid, so I expect him to use all three of the Cluster's Supernovas. That will give him thirty first-line BattleMechs to Kael Pershaw's thirty and a two-to-one advantage in Elementals. I will counter by bidding Bravo Supernova, Command Supernova, and a Star of fighters. That should be enough to destroy the DropShip. If Zoll is overly aggressive, I can eliminate four Points of Elementals and three Points of fighters."
"What of Clan Jade Falcon's Garrison Trinary?"
"Freebirths and has-beens. Nothing of any account. In fact I am glad Kael Pershaw did not eliminate all of his freebirth units from the defense. There is nothing like a few of those damned frees to stir up our troops to a fighting frenzy, quiaff?"
"Aff."
The comm screen in front of Radick split in half. On the top was the face of Star Colonel Mikel Furey, on the bottom that of Star Captain Zoll.
"Star Captain Dwillt Radick, Star Captain Zoll. You have heard the response of Star Colonel Kael Pershaw of Clan Jade Falcon. Star Captain Zoll, what forces do you bid to take the spawn of Kael Pershaw?"
Zoll pressed a series of buttons that made the icons for three Supernovas appear.
"I bid Supernova Third, Supernova Second, and Supernova Command."
" Star Captain Dwillt Radick, what is your counter?"
A smile appeared on Radick's face. As his fingers touched the buttons that eliminated the Cluster's Supernova Third, he looked over at Craig Ward. "We have him," Radick said.
* * *
"I had hoped he would take away one Trinary, then I could eliminate the Garrison Cluster," Kael Pershaw said to Lanja.
"I would not advise that," Lanja said. "We could spread ourselves too thin."
"But remember we know the terrain."
"All the more reason to stop now. In a high bid like this one, I think we can slaughter these Wolves. Accepting his bid will allow us to choose the fighting place. Meet them on Glory Plain with their backs to Blood Swamp, then push them into the swamp."
Pershaw nodded. "I see. Yes, let us close the bid."
* * *
No one was more surprised at Pershaw's selection of forces than Aidan. He had not expected his warriors to remain part of the defending forces.
"What is Kael Pershaw up to, I wonder?" he said to Horse.
"Perhaps he needs some freebirths to sacrifice."
"That is probably it. Well, I hope they place us right at the front. We need that kind of fight."
"You mean youneed it."
Aidan ran his hand along the edge of the dark band. "I think you are right, Horse, with your usual perspicacity. "
"Perspi—I don't know that word."
"Read more. Learn more words. And, for Kerensky's sake, stop using those contractions. Your language is debased enough."
Horse just laughed. Aidan had been trying to clean up his language for some time, but Horse persisted in using freeborn slang and throwing in contractions wherever he could. The look on Horse's face when Aidan criticized his speech usually showed contempt for Aidan's warrior linguistic beliefs.
Well, so be it, Aidan thought. It was impossible to teach a freeborn to speak with honor, so it was no wonder the trueborn society that controlled the Clan empire looked down on them. Perhaps birth did dictate roles, as many Clan scientists believed. Horse would always be a freeborn, just as warriors were set in their caste. But what could be said of someone like Aidan, born of the highest caste while pretending to be of a lower one? Nothing dictated his role, except a rather cruel fate. And, as a Clansman, he should not believe in fate. A warrior created his or her own destiny. That was his goal now. To create his destiny.
5
When the Wolf Clan aerofighters went after the DropShip, Joanna was manning a medium pulse laser in a gunnery blister on the ship's port side. While reclining on the control station couch, she could fire more than two hundred rapid bursts of coherent light with a simple squeeze of the joystick's trigger.
She awaited the appearance of an aerofighter against which to turn this weapon, one she had fired often enough in target practice but never in actual air combat. This would, in fact, be the first time she had participated in combat not set firmly on the ground. A real challenge, but then again, how hard could it be? Probably no different than directing autocannon fire from within a 'Mech cockpit, she thought, although the physical handling of the weapon itself would be a new sensation.
Joanna had volunteered to be a gunner when the young DropShip captain announced that a trio of his regular military complement were down with a virulent flu picked up at their last delivery. He thanked her profusely in his pleasantly boyish way, but truth to tell, Joanna believed the captain had done her a favor. The worst possibility, from her point of view, would have been to endure the battle from inside the ship, listening to the rumble of its weapons and feeling the hits from the other side. If she could not get planetside in time to participate in this battle, at least she could do some damage here.