43
New Avalon
Cruris March, Federated Suns
25 September 3028
The air hung heavy in the underground command center known as the Fox's Den. Acrid with the scent of nervous sweat and filled with tension, it defied all attempts of the air conditioning system to do more than swirl into a turgid breeze. Hardly anyone looked up when Prince Hanse Davion appeared in the darkened doorway, while those who did merely nodded, too weary for more. Studying the tired faces, the Prince smiled to himself. Here, now, we are equals, and that familiarity pleases me in this setting. Here I need men and women who will tell me the truth, not courtiers who will falsify reality to gain their own ends.
An orderly handed the Prince a wireless headset. He slipped it onto his head, then adjusted the microphone to hover just at the corner of his mouth. Radio chatter filled the earphone clapped against his right ear, but by lightly touching the back of the ear piece, he cut the volume to little more than a light whisper.
Moving through the darkened command post built deep beneath his palace, the Prince approached the holographic wartable through a crowd of milling bodies. Surrounding the rectangular room and extending down into the massive amphitheatre to his left were giant computer screens that displayed scrolling lines of data or recorded battlefield vids assembled from the 'Mechs fighting light years away.
The Prince saw Quintus Allard hunched over the wartable. The holograph's phosphorescent greens and reds overlaid Quintus's face like a topographical map, etching dark valleys onto the Minister's face.
Quintus looked up as Hanse reached the table's edge. The Minister greeted the Prince with a smile and a nod, then pointed to the battle unfolding on the massive wartable. "It worked, my Prince. Redfield's Renegades landed successfully in the Liao family estate on Liao. It placed them directly behind the Capellan Hussars. The word we have now is that the Hussars have left the world."
Hanse Davion nodded. "Excellent. Liao surprised us by having the Hussars on the world, and we return the favor by having the Renegades pull off a dangerous assault." The Prince tapped two fingers against his chin. "We shall reward Redfield and his people for their effort." Hanse narrowed his eyes. "Have you discovered how the Hussars happened to be on Liao without our knowledge?"
A sour expression washed over Quintus's face. "It turns out a clerk in the Quartermaster Corps had been collecting pay for a halfdozen phantom troopers. He delayed recording the Hussars' shift in station until he could clean up his files, which is why our people didn't spot the move initially. Our agents on Liao knew the Hussars performed exercises there each summer, so they routed their reports via the normal channels. We'd expected the Hussars to end up on Liao, but we thought it would be later. Without the payroll confirmation, we just didn't have them on-planet yet."
Hanse nodded. "They got offworld?"
Quintus nodded. "And they took one battalion from the House LuSann unit and one badly damaged battalion from the Confederation Reserve Cavalry's First Regiment. That unit, for all intents and purposes, is destroyed. The officer corps and command structure is gone."
The Prince touched a glowing stud on the table's edge. The holographic projection changed away from the battles on Liao to a representation of the planet Aldebaran. "Any more trouble here?"
Quintus shook his head. "House Ijori got a company and a half off the world. Since their departure, trouble has dropped to a minimum. The Fourth Guards have a good handle on things, and per your instructions, have opened a number of temporary relief centers for refugees. The Fourth Deneb Light Cavalry has regrouped and is ready for the next wave of strikes."
Quintus typed a short command into a computer console off to his right. "Liao got one battalion of the First Ariana Fusiliers off Algol and one and a half battalions of New Hessen's First Irregulars regiment off New Hessen." He looked up with a grim smile. "Liao's salvaged two weakened regiments from the garrison forces on nine worlds. We've been hurt in a couple of places, but we're still strong. In fact, the units scheduled for participation in the next wave of attacks are virtually intact."
Hanse nodded thoughtfully. "On Algol, did we pick up the prize?"
Quintus nodded. "Half alive, but we have him. He ejected from a damaged 'Mech and headed into the wilderness. Infection almost cost him his leg, and his broken ankle will never heal quite right, but we've got him."
Hanse smiled to himself. Excellent. A son is such an effective tool to use against the father."No one is to know his true identity. Have him brought here." Accepting Quintus's nod as a reply, Hanse shifted subjects. "Has an evaluation of the close assault company's activity on St. Andre been completed?"
Quintus again typed a command into the computer console, then touched a button on the table's edge. Aldebaran's image faded, to be replaced with a data display. Projected in bold blues and greens, the column indicating the tonnage destroyed by Redburn's company towered over the column representing tonnage lost by the same group.
The Prince smiled broadly. "This is better than expected."
Quintus nodded. "You should remember, my Prince, that the Goliath'Mech is notorious for its lack of close-in weaponry. The Delta company was fighting a Liao force singularly susceptible to their configuration. That said, the most important thing to remember about the Delta company is how well they fought when they believed Redburn had died."
Quintus shifted the wartable's display. It went from the graphics breakdown to holographic battle footage. "We captured this from one of the Goliaths."Quintus pointed to a Goliathslowly turning after being hammered by a series of LRM explosions. "That's Colonel Cochraine's 'Mech."
Lasers blasted into the 'Mech, scouring the remaining armor from the turret, but failed to stop the war machine. Its turret slowly turned, then focused on a Jenner.Off to the Goliath'sright, a Firestartershot into the sky on silver jets of ion flame, then landed, feet first, on the Goliath'shead.
The resulting fusion engine explosion filled the war-room with a blinding white fire. As the light died, the Prince saw the legless torso of the Firestarterwhirl up and away from the ruined Goliath.The broken 'Mech spun through the air like a discarded toy, then slammed into the shoulder of another previously damaged Goliath.That assault 'Mech's shoulder collapsed, sending it crashing to the ground, while the Firestarterbounced off and lay face up. It did not move.
Quintus stopped the display, leaving the 'Mechs frozen in the midst of battle. "Redburn suffered a concussion and remained unconscious for the rest of the battle. Leftenant Craon immediately directed his Valkyriefireteams to keep Goliathsoff the Captain's position, then drove the three other lances deeper into the Goliathformation. He even radioed Colonel Stone and told him that the rest of the First Battalion could, quoting now, 'join in any time they wished.' "
That drew a chuckle from the Prince. Stone must have loved to hear that!"Imagine that, Quintus. A unit built from one of my training battalions inviting an academy unit to join them. Mech-Warriors like Craon would never have had a chance if we'd not started that program. Let us hope this kind of thing will help kill criticism of that program."