Morgan's dark visage eased a bit. "Tell me, Dan. I'll not have Melissa endangered."
Dan nodded. "You will recall that when we saw the Archon and Melissa off, you hugged both of them? I bid them farewell in a bit more restrained manner. I shook hands with the Archon, then I kissed Melissa's hand."
Morgan raised an eyebrow. "And?"
"Melissa was wearing a perfume called Nocturne.She'd dabbed some of it on her wrist." Dan smiled as he remembered the day on the beach. "Jeana told me it was a fragrance created especially for Melissa, but that the Archon-Designate hated it and never wore it. In fact, Jeana said, Melissa had given the entire supply to her because she liked it."
Dan met Morgan's dark gaze. "Now I know why Jeana was so secretive about herself. And that's why she made a play for me. Melissa is traveling back to New Avalon as Jeana, pretending to get to know my family." Dan's mouth dropped open as he numbly swung his head side to side. "What could be more perfectly secure and natural?"
As his hand crushed the silk, Dan turned from Morgan to stare at the bulkhead. "Now I know how Justin felt when he found himself on trial." Dan slammed his fist on the desk. "How could my father do that to me?"
Morgan settled both of his strong hands on Dan's shoulders. Dan wanted to fight him, to pull away and let his anger flash out like a PPC blast, but Morgan held him firmly. "You've hit on pieces of the plan, my friend, but you've not got it straight."
Morgan released Dan, then moved back to his place by the door. "No one had expected me to bring you to the wedding as my aide. Katrina believed I'd bring Salome, but as you'll recall, Salome insisted on remaining to complete training with the First 'Mech Battalion. I chose you to accompany me because I knew your parents would be there."
Morgan looked down at the JumpShip deck. "Jeana was supposed to strike up a friendship with your sister. She already had papers showing her to be a transfer student to the New Avalon Institute of Science. Because your sister attends classes and teaches there, the friendship would have seemed natural." Morgan grinned. "Your friendship with her seemed yet more natural."
Dan turned slowly. "Why didn't my father tell me?"
Morgan shrugged. "I don't know. I only found this out when Katrina and I spoke the night of the wedding. She explained it to me so I'd not betray anything when we saw them off. I suspect your father would have told you on Friday night but. . ."
Dan nodded. "He never got the chance."
Dan opened his mouth to ask a question, but Morgan waved it away. "Don't ask. If it were all a lie, she'd never have given you that sash." Morgan pointed at the shiny green ribbon threaded through Dan's knotted fists. "There's your proof."
Dan grinned sheepishly. "Point taken." He looked up. "Thanks. This has been eating me alive. I didn't know if Jeana was part of some plot by Lestrade, or something even more strange."
Morgan smiled openly. "I need you sane and clear, Dan, so I thought I'd try to reassure you. I didn't expect the conversation to take this turn, but I'm glad it did. In this war, I can't afford to have a company commander preoccupied with anything but his people."
"Roger that, Colonel." Dan smiled as he recalled the pandemonium following the Prince's announcement concerning the Capellan Confederation. "I'll be more concerned about my people than old Max Liao was about grabbing dessert dishes."
Morgan threw back his head and laughed heartily. "It must have been a full five seconds of dead and utter shocked silence after Prince Hanse made the announcement. Takashi Kurita looked as if he'd been slapped with a cold squid."
"And I thought old Janos Marik was going to have a stroke," Dan said. "His face turned red, and then purple when he saw his consort looking at the Prince with her lusty eyes. Still, Maximilian Liao's reaction had to be the best..."
The Kell Hound Colonel nodded in agreement. "When he shot from his seat, I thought he was going to launch straight away for his JumpShip. He croaked a couple of times, then clutched his dessert plate to his chest as though it were solid gold! Then he starts shouting at his wife and daughters to gather up the plates because they're military intelligence! 'They show the worlds he means to conquer!' Max bellowed. I hope the Liao defenses are more organized than their leader."
Dan chewed his lower lip. "I think they will be. Did you see Justin's reaction? He just stood there, rock still, and glared at the Prince while all hell broke loose around him. He took absolutely no notice of nobles and Mech Warriors fighting over plates, cake flying everywhere, and the ComStar Acolytes trying to calm things down. Justin raised his champagne glass in that steel hand of his and waited for the Prince to return the salute. When the Prince did so, they both drank and then Justin crushed his glass..."
Morgan narrowed his dark eyes. "Very bad blood there. You may well be right to suggest that Liao's forces will be well-organized if Justin has any say in the matter. I actually think Hanse Davion has more to fear from him than he does from Max Liao."
Dan nodded, then deflected the conversation away from thoughts of his brother. "What is really happening out there, Colonel, if I may ask?"
Morgan half-closed his eyes. "If things are going according to plan, Davion forces have landed—or will soon be landing—on nine different Liao worlds. The initial invasion hits all the worlds on the Tikonov-Sarna border ..."
Dan dredged a map out of his memory. "At the narrow point, choking Tikonov off from the rest of the Capellan Confederation?"
Morgan nodded. "The Federated Suns had their troops gathered up for the Galahad exercises, but launched deep into Liao space. They grossly outnumber and outclass the troops they're going against, but nothing is certain in war." Morgan pressed his lips together into a thin, grim line. "That said, Liao troops would have to fight far better than they have in the past to avoid being overwhelmed."
Dan frowned. "Won't Kurita attack the Federated Suns to help Liao?"
Morgan opened his hands. "Wolf's Dragoons left the Draconis Combine in a hostile fashion. Lots of troops got ripped up in the Galedon Military District, and Wolf's set his people up to hammer any and all comers House Kurita wants to send to him. The war's gotten personal there . . . It's less House Davion versus House Kurita than it is Jaime Wolf versus the Draconis Combine."
The mercenary Captain winced. "The Draconis March is larger than just the Galedon Military District. The Combine could attack down and shut off the Terran corridor."
Morgan shook his head. "No time. Lyran forces hit all along the border. The Combine had been moving troops toward the Galedon District to shore up their defenses, so the attack will catch them with their zubondown. The LCAF slammed Marfik hard and, with any luck, caught Theodore Kurita in their trap. Eliminate the Coordinator's heir, and internal struggles could rip the Combine apart."
"So, what does all this mean for the Kell Hounds? What are we going to do?"
Morgan smiled grimly. "I've sent word to Salome to bring the regiment to Thorin, and Katrina is lending us DropShips and a JumpShip to do it. Then we wait."
Dan shifted uneasily in his chair. He already knew the answer to his question, but he had to hear the answer from Morgan's lips. "Wait for what?"
Morgan Kell looked away, as though seeing far away, down some corridor in time. "We wait for someone to determine which is the Genyoshahomeworld, and then we bring the war home to Yorinaga Kurita."