Khalsa complied, then Kai moved him aside. Deirdre flew through the open door and embraced him tightly. It didn't matter to him that her touch started bruises aching again because the feel of her body and the scent of her eased all of his pain. "I love you, Deirdre."
"It is you, it really is. I thought I'd lost you."
He felt her tears splash onto his neck and a tug at his right hip. With his left arm wrapped around her waist, he lifted her and spun to his right as Khalsa pulled the needle pistol from his holster. The autorifle came up around, clipping the demi-Precentor in the right temple as he sought to bring the gun up. Stunned, the man stumbled back across the room.
Khalsa smashed into the Elementals' cell. Malthus' hands snaked through the bars to cap and cup the man's skull. The Elemental's muscles bunched as his hands twisted. He wrenched Khalsa's head sharply to the right. The angle became extreme just before Kai heard a snap and then Khalsa slumped to the floor.
The MechWarrior clutched Deirdre even tighter to him and pressed his head against hers so she would not turn around and look. "Thank you."
Taman Malthus let his open hands dangle innocently through the bars. "I have robbed you of a kill that was, by rights, yours."
"Saved me a bullet." Kai loosened his grip on Deirdre. "How are you, love? Are you fit to travel?"
She sniffed and swiped at tears with her hands. "I'm worlds away better now. I thought you were dead."
He smiled weakly. "Well, I feel dead, so we're close to even. Are you ready to make a run to the radio telescope? We'll use Khalsa's limo this time." He pointed with the rifle at the Elementals. "With these guys in jail here, we should be able to make it."
"Let's go."
"Wait!"
Kai looked over at Malthus. "Ah, you'll forgive me if I decline to continue our little fight. I know it's a matter of honor with you, but you had me fighting gravity and a monster tree." He opened his arms so the Elemental could get a good look at his tattered and pitch-stained jumpsuit. "Consider yourself the winner, okay?"
"I do. And I consider you as bold a warrior as the Inner Sphere has to offer."
"A bold warrior, me?"
"As brave a combatant as I have heard of during our Homecoming." The Elemental nodded toward Deirdre. "As I told her, I had won the fight. The fact that you willingly fought me marks you worthy of my respect, and has caused me to reflect upon the nature of those we oppose here. I am prepared to honor my promise to provide you transport off this world, though I ask you indulge me in one thing."
Kai's eyes narrowed. "And that is?"
"Tell me who you really are." Malthus held his hands up to forestall any protest. "I know you are not Dave Jewell. I read his dossier and I know he was left-handed. You are not. I must know who you are."
Deirdre smiled as Kai blushed. "Star Captain Taman Malthus, may I present to you Leftenant Kai Allard-Liao."
Malthus' jaw dropped open and he reeled backward to seat himself abruptly on a cot. "You are the Kai Allard-Liao who was on Twycross?"
His cheeks burning, Kai nodded.
"And you are the Kai Allard-Liao who foiled our ambush of the Davion Prince here on Alyina?" Again Kai nodded.
Malthus stared at him, then looked at the other two Elemental sharing his cage. "Kai Allard-Liao." It started slowly, but his laughter grew both in volume and intensity. He held his stomach and rolled back, freeing his subordinates to join him. One of them was laughing so hard he dropped to the floor, while the other clung to the bars to hold himself up.
Kai, astonished, looked to Deirdre, but she shrugged, equally puzzled. "Of all the receptions my name has gotten, this is the first time for laughter."
Malthus pulled himself up to his feet and fought against the convulsions shaking him. "Forgive me, Leftenant, but we are not laughing at you. We are laughing at ourselves." Another wave of amusement swept over him. Tears streaming down from his eyes, he choked down a giggle and met Kai's quizzical gaze. "TheKai Allard-Liao."
"I don't understand."
"You do not? Twycross. Our Prince trap?" Malthus shook his head. "Had I known we were chasing you, I would have used a full Star in the hunt."
A full Star of Elementals? After me? That is lunacy!"I thought you Clansmen preferred evenly matched battles."
'True. Two Stars, then."
One of Malthus' men nodded enthusiastically.
"You're crazy."
"Are we?" Malthus straightened up. "On Twycross you destroyed the Falcon Guards. On Alyina you hold open the jaws of a trap that should have gobbled up the heir to the throne of the Federated Commonwealth. After that you manage to survive for four months behind enemy lines. You have eluded us while claiming the reward for our own death and you—a MechWarrior—defeated an Elemental in single combat. You fall from a plateau, get battered by a tree and hit the ground, yet you are able to hike to Dove Costoso and engineer a jail break."
Kai shook his head vehemently. "No, no, you're making it much more than it seems, really."
"Kai, stop it." Deirdre frowned sharply. "What would you say if Victor had done all those things? Would you say it was nothing?"
He looked at her as if she were mad. "Don't be silly. Of course not."
"Then why is it different for you?" She reached up and caressed the left side of his face. "You have, for so long, held yourself to such high standards that you truly do not know how special you are. What you do is miraculous. Colonel Wolf said as much when you defeated five 'Mechs in the testing on Outreach."
"Five 'Mechs?" Malthus groaned.
"Three Stars," one of the other two mumbled.
"But, but, but ...," Kai sputtered until Deirdre pressed her fingers against his lips. Is what they are saying true? Am I really that good, or are they misinterpreting what has been only a tremendous run of luck?He smiled as he recalled one MechWarrior instructor telling him, "It's better to be lucky than good." Have I really been too hard on myself all these years?
He waited for that dark voice to tell him arrogance would be his downfall, but it did not come. Maybe I am good, or maybe I am lucky. Neither of those is an excuse to be cocky or sloppy, but perhaps I'm not as bad as I imagine.Kai smiled as he felt the weight on his shoulders lighten for the first time in active memory.
Deirdre kissed him.
"Keep up that sort of reinforcement, Doctor, and I could come to believe almost anything you tell me." He looked up at Malthus. "It seems like we're on the same side, at least for the short run. If you're serious about getting us off this rock, I'll let you out. But only on the proviso we do not have to finish our fight."
"Why would I fight with an allied warrior?" Malthus shook his head. "Before I can get you off Alyina, I must free my people and avenge the deaths that have occurred. I believe my men have been sent to the ComStar compound at Valigia."
Deirdre stiffened. "The ComStar facility at Valigia is a fortress built by the CEO of a corp who ran this world like his own personal fiefdom. Armored Elementals might do fine on the inside, but cracking open that gate would be something else."
"We have our armor cached in the mountains where we waited for you, but we have no rocket packs. We'd need something big to open that place up. ComStar has disarmed the population over the past four months, and cleaned up all the 'Mech wreckage left on the surface of the planet."
Kai let a low laugh rumble from his throat. "I know where we can find a Gauss rifle. It'll open a hole." He plucked the keys from the lock of Deirdre's cell and tossed them to Malthus. "It's about time someone gave ComStar a message, and if you're willing to work together, I'm sure we can make it a very special delivery."