"Thank you, H-h-highness," stammered the young woman.
"I mean that very sincerely," Victor added hastily as he released her hand. He had little doubt that the tall and gangling young woman would have been decidedly less nervous if her plump old aunt were not hovering close enough to hear their every word. Victor—who had learned long ago to be very polite to the young women thrust at him as possible brides by ambitious relatives—felt especially sorry for Charity.
"Lady de Gambier, you are preparing to enter a university? I believe that is what your aunt mentioned."
Charity nodded as she collected her thoughts. "I am hoping to go to the New Avalon Institute of Science after getting my first two years at the Gambier Technical Institute. If I can transfer to the NAIS, Dr. Riva Allard's neurocybernetic regeneration projects interest me. I could help my father and others recover from battle wounds."
"You are a visionary, as is Dr. Allard." Victor said, at the same time reaching out to catch Mark Allard by the arm as the young man was passing by. Spinning his cousin around, Victor inclined his head toward Charity. "In fact, this is Dr. Allard's nephew, Mark. Mark, this is Charity de Gambier. Her father is Marshal Richard de Gambier."
Mark's face lit up as he took in the pretty young woman, lifting a great pressure from Victor's chest and brightening Charity's expression considerably. "Mark is thinking of going to the Nagelring in a few years, but I was hoping to convince him that another Allard should go through the New Avalon Military Academy. That would put you both on New Avalon at the same time. Having friends in new places always makes the transition so much easier."
Taking some personal delight in the darkening expression on the Baroness' face, Victor let the couple drift away in conversation as a slender blond officer a bit taller than himself approached. Like Victor, the man wore the blue-trimmed dress gray uniform of the Tenth Lyran Guards. Because both of them were members of the Revenants, the Guards' large reinforced battalion, their epaulets were black and trimmed with a white ghost embroidered on the flat surface.
"Galen, you look amused."
Victor's aide, Galen Cox, nodded and let his smile broaden. "Some of the Hounds have been swapping tales of Luthien, and the Khan has just joined the circle. I thought you might be interested."
Despite Galen's light tone, Victor caught his concern. Phelan had never been known as one who could control his anger. It wouldn't hurt to keep the peace here and now, given the extraordinary agreement Victor had just made with ComStar and Phelan, but neither did he mind letting his cousin twist a bit in the wind. Victor realized he was still smarting some from Phelan's superiority during the morning's negotiation, but he resolved to put that behind him as he followed Galen toward a growing circle of warriors.
One woman, a Kell Hound company commander, was using her hands to indicate the relative positions of 'Mechs as she recounted a fight. ". . .So there the Colonel was, standing alone on the hilltop. The Nova Cats kept coming at him, but they never even got close. I was in my Blackjack,hanging back where the Colonel had placed us. I popped them with my autocannons as they came in, then burned them down with my medium lasers. There was this one Clan moron who had been strafed, leaving the whole right torso of his 'Mech open. He cruised right past me and I went internal on him with all my shots."
As she spoke, the Inner Sphere warriors gathered around her chuckled and nodded sagely. Most of the warriors were from the Kell Hounds, but Victor saw a scattering of other units represented, including the Fourth Donegal Guards and a half-dozen militia units from worlds where the Hounds had pulled garrison duty. The Tenth Lyran Guards, as represented by Victor, had seen the most action against the Clans, but the majority of those present had also tangled with the Clans at one point or another.
Arrayed against all these warriors, Phelan and Ragnar stood alone at the circle's edge. Phelan again wore his gray leathers, plus a long gray cloak whose shoulders were covered in fur that could only be that of a wolf. Standing beside him was Ragnar, wearing the bondcord on his right wrist and dressed in a gray jumpsuit. He held an elaborate wolf's-head mask that looked as though it was made from enamel.
The dark-haired Kell Hound nodded her head. "Yeah, we kicked Clan butt on Luthien that day." She grinned around at her comrades, then glanced up at Phelan with a look of challenge.
"I have no doubt you did, Captain Moran," he said evenly. "I recall the day your father turned the Blackjackover to you, saying he hoped it would do as much for you as it had for him. You are to be commended for your action." Phelan inclined his head toward her in a silent salute, yet the smile on his face still made him look superior.
Victor frowned. The old Phelan would have fought back. The Clans have matured him, but not changed him so thoroughly that he can't help being smug.
Michelle Moran looked puzzled. "I hadn't thought a Clanner—especially one of their leaders—was the type to admit defeat so easily."
"Defeat?" Phelan shook his head, and would have appeared calm if Victor had not noted the tightened flesh around his eyes. "You would expect me to dispute what you have said? The Smoke Jaguars and Nova Cats have been reluctant to share the battle ROMs from the Luthien debacle, so I have not seen them. But what you describe rings true. Those Clans were defeated without taking Luthien. That is truth. That is fact."
"The whipping ComStar gave you on Tukayyid is likewise fact,"Moran countered in a voice loud enough to attract some attention. Victor saw Star Captain Ranna look over from her conversation with Phelan's parents, but a slight shake of the head from Phelan apparently satisfied her concern. He saw no other Clansfolk in the room, but did see several other MechWarriors join the circle.
Victor turned and whispered to Galen. "Why is the name Moran so familiar?"
"The Twelfth Donegal Guards, sir. We lost Damien Moran. They may have been related."
The image of Damien's smiling face came back to Victor. He'd not known the young man before the Jade Falcons hit Trellwan, but he'd learned all about him after being forced to evacuate that planet. As with all the other warriors who had given their lives so he could escape the Clan trap, Victor had memorized the man's face and service record. "Yes, he was from Arc-Royal. I should have seen the resemblance earlier. Thanks."
Phelan nodded slowly. "It is a factthat ComStar won the battle for Tukayyid. They bargained well and when all was done, they were the victors. I would point out, however, that the Wolves gained their objectives. I would also note that the ComStar victory won only a truce, not a war."
"But you Clanners were beaten."
"Captain Moran, you do not seem to understand that it is folly to lump all the Clans together."
Michelle glared at Phelan, but he said nothing more. "What is that supposed to mean, Khan Phelan?"
Phelan glanced at Ragnar and the bondsman cracked a bit of a smile. With a bow of his head to Phelan, Ragnar then turned to face Michelle Moran. "What Khan Ward means, Captain, is that lumping the Clans together is as foolish as suggesting that all parts of the Inner Sphere be treated as a single group. You and the Kell Hounds are Steiner loyalists with a long history of opposing the Draconis Combine. Prince Davion here is heir to both the Steiner and Davion thrones, yet he and his Revenants traveled to the Combine to rescue Theodore Kurita's heir from the Nova Cats."
Ragnar pointed to a man in the uniform of the Morges Militia. "You come from the last of the Tamar worlds in the Federated Commonwealth, so your loyalties lie with Ryan Steiner. He and his Skye separatists are known to be in opposition to Prince Victor and the Davion domination of the Federated Commonwealth. The Inner Sphere, as a lump, also includes the Draconis Combine, the Free Worlds League, the Capellan Confederation, the St. Ives Compact, and what little remains of the Free Rasalhague Republic. All of these have different goals and different means for achieving them."