"You obsess about more than the Red Corsair, Kommandant Geist. That manacle, for example." She glanced down at the small noteputer in front of her. "You have steadfastly refused to let us remove it from your wrist."
"It's not what you think. I do not cling to this as a way-of identifying with the bandits." Nelson dropped his gaze, then continued in a subdued voice. "When it hit me that I had abandoned my people—Spider and the others—when I escaped from the Tigress,I decided to continue to wear this constantly as a reminder of my obligation to them."
He looked up and straight at Colonel Allard. "You can understand that, can't you? In a moment of madness I forgot about them. I got away, thinking only of myself. But I owe it to them to help free them, which is why I need a 'Mech."
"I understand, Kommandant, and I understand your rejection of Dr. Kendall's assessment of you." Dan frowned, then shook his head. "As much as I want to believe you, and dobelieve you, I cannot give you a BattleMech."
Anger jolted through Nelson. "Forgive me, sir, but if you believe me, and if I have convinced you that I am not in thrall to the bandits, why not? I'm able, very able." He held up his left hand. "Don't let this fool you. I can handle a 'Mech."
Khan Phelan leaned forward slowly. "We are well aware of that, Kommandant, which is precisely why you will not be given a 'Mech."
"I don't understand."
The Clan Khan's eyes narrowed. "Computer, play back 55.04.30, Yeguas 3.1, Slot 7."
The computer complied, and above the polished surface of the table a holographic display of a battle took shape. Nelson recognized the surface of Cue Ball, but realized he was seeing the engagement from the Wolf Clan perspective. As he watched, the viewpoint 'Mech went bounding forward toward a BattleMaster.The holographs began to waver as the 'Mech began to have trouble. When the BattleMasterfired its PPCs, however, the diagnostic subtrack started to report incredible damage.
"Isolate and magnify BattleMaster'sgunner." At Phelan's command, the battle froze and the perspective zoomed in until Nelson saw himself hovering over the table. The Khan stared at him through the ghostly green image. "We have similar battle ROMs from Deia. You did the Red Corsair's killing for her, Kommandant Geist. You will never again pilot a 'Mech, and if what you have told us isdisinformation, you will face a court-martial and execution for your acts of treason."
"That is a fair bit down the road, Khan Phelan." The white-haired Kell Hound leader turned back to Nelson. "You are under house arrest for the time being, Kommandant, but anything you require, within reason, will be made available to you."
"But not a 'Mech?"
"I'm sorry, no."
"Why not just take me out and have me shot?" If I cannot get a 'Mech here on Arc-Royal, I will never be rid of her.
Conal's head come up. "That is myrecommendation, quisling."
"Soon there will be killing enough for us all." Dan glanced at the Clansman on either side of him. "You area security risk, Kommandant Geist, but not one that figures high on my list of worries. Soon this will all be behind you. You are dismissed."
"With all due respect, Colonel Allard, you don't understand." Nelson's hands balled into fists. "Don't send me away, don't cut me out. You need me. I know how the Red Corsair thinks. I can help you figure out where she will strike next."
Khan Phelan leaned back in his chair. "We already know where she will strike. And when."
Nelson blinked his eyes. "And you are here, on the ground? Are you fools? You will never be able to react fast enough to get her."
"We do not need to react." Phelan steepled his fingers. "The Kell Hounds and the Wolf Clan hurt her. There is only one place she can hit where she can hurt both entities." The young Khan's smile reminded Nelson of an expression he had often seen on the Red Corsair's face. "We have sent our JumpShips and DropShips off to guard other worlds, and that is information she will stumble across easily."
Nelson's mouth went dry. "Which means she'll be coming here."
Phelan nodded as solemnly as an undertaker. "And on Arc-Royal her career ends."
BOOK III
The Killing Time
34
Arc-Royal
Federated Commonwealth
5 September 3055
Khan Phelan Ward looked out the window of the office meant for the Grand Duke of Arc-Royal. Down below two dozen people were picketing, slowing traffic and attracting a small crowd of the curious. Phelan's eyes narrowed, but the half-smile never left his lips.
"I would have them all shot." Conal Ward stood away from the window, like a vampire dreading the sun's warm kiss. "The ruling caste of Arc-Royal has decided to let you remain here, yet these people commit treason and you tolerate it." The Clansman sniffed. "But then you have become used to abiding treason."
Phelan whipped around and skewered Conal with a cold stare. "I tolerated it in your case."
Despite his efforts to show no reaction, Conal's cheeks reddened. "I was referring to the decision to let Nelson remain alive."
The Clan Khan suppressed a smile. He knew that Conal refused to use Nelson's surname of Geist because, to a Clanner, it would have meant conferring the honor of a Bloodname on him. Instead, he tried to put all his disgust into the word Nelson, yet somehow that name couldn't carry the weight of so much vitriol. Geist, on the other hand, would have suited the purpose perfectly, but Conal could not unbend enough to see it.
"I find him still worthwhile and valuable as an information source. I do not believe he is a traitor. His compatriots were probably innocent, too, but you did not wait long enough to find that out."
"You deny him a 'Mech."
"I do." Phelan walked from the window to the massive mahogany desk that had been his grandfather's. "That I do not think him a traitor does not mean I believe him capable of handling a 'Mech now. I will admit, though, that the battle ROMs of Cue Ball show him to be an able gunner."
"That was a trap."
"One you fell into."
"As would you, had you been there instead of cowering with these mercenaries." Conal's eyes smoldered in the black pits of his eye sockets. "How can you stand it? These people are sheep."
"Then I am a shepherd."
"You are a Wolf!" Conal jabbed a finger at him. "Or, by this time, you should be. You and I, we have political differences, but at the heart, we are the same. We are warriors and the people should respect us. Look at those people down there—instead of glorying in the honor of having the Wolves hunting down the bandits that attack their homeworld, they protest it! How can you permit that?"
Phelan shook his head. "How can I permit it? I can and do because they have their right to be afraid and to show it. I do not relish the idea of war coming to my homeworld, but I accept that it must happen if the Red Corsair is to be stopped. That people express their fear and their worries is not disloyalty—it would be disloyalty to have them arrested."
He glanced toward the window. "Is it any wonder they protest my presence on this planet? Those who have not lost their worlds to the Clan invasion have lost kin and lovers to the war. To them I am a traitor, but they suffer my presence out of respect for my family. Were my father dead and I attempting to exercise my legal inheritance here, you would see a civil war. Besides, you can bet that if I were still a man of the Inner Sphere, I would be leadingthe fight against a Clanner inheriting Arc-Royal."