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Somehow, Grayson managed to click on the tacradio at his throat. "Evade and escape! Rendezvous when you can back at the Arsenal! Quickly!" Then the night lit up with fire and death as gu
"Let's get out of here, Larressen..."
"Larressen's had it Lieutenant."
Only then did Grayson look at his rescuer. For some reason he'd assumed it was Larressen, but it was the blackened face of a private from the demo team that stared at him with concern. What was the name? Greer, that was it He was one of the new 'Mech pilot recruits..
"That... that thing stepped on him," Greer was saying haltingly, "like he was an insect"
"Let's go. We'll even the score later." Even with the pain in his leg, Grayson found he could run with a free-swinging limp. With a party of four other survivors, he made his way down the mountain.
22
General Adel flung the printouts down on his desk, and nailed Grayson with a hard look. "Twenty-eight dead or missing," he said. "Twenty-eight out of fifty. This is not what we've come to expect of your unit here at the Palace, you know. Well? What do you have to say about it, Lieutenant?"
"It... it was a trap, General."
"Indeed?"
"They had that Shadow Hawkrigged to look like it was under repair. They must've had the pilot stuffed in the cockpit, flat on his back for hours just to..."
"I am not interested in the Shadow Hawkpilot's comfort, Lieutenant! I am interested in what I'm going to put into the report I must submit to His Majesty."
"Yes, sir."
"This does not bode well for the First Lancers, you understand. I know that the Royal Guard, in, particular has gone out of its way to provide your unit with weapons and equipment already in short supply. Critics will point out that this effort was wasted, thrown away to no purpose."
"But General! You..."
"Silence!"
Grayson remained rigidly at attention, clamping down on the emotions boiling within him. This was unfair! He had had nothing but trouble getting requisitions through the Guard supply bureaucracy, and now...
"I never have approved of this project, Carlyle. You know that, don't you?"
"Yes, sir."
"I certainly never expected His Majesty would establish anything like an elite unit elsewhere than within the structure of the Guard. I expect General Varney was responsible for this idiotic notion of having the Lancers be an independent unit Eh? Well?”
“I wouldn't know, sir."
"Hmm, no, I expect not." Adel leaned back in his chair, carefully crossing one leg over the other. "Well, be advised that that's all changing, as of now."
"Sir?"
"That surprises you, eh? Well, Varney is out of the picture, Carlyle, and the First Trellwan Lancers are, as of this period, being redesignated as E Company, Tenth Royal Guards. They will be under my direct command."
The room swam in Grayson's eyes. What Adel was saying did not make sense. "Sir... I..."
"You will turn over all records and files to your successor. Captain Nolem." Adel looked up from his desk at Carlyle, astonishment softening his voice. "You didn't think you'd actually keep the Lance, did you? You're young, Carlyle, too young for a command of such responsibility. The job was just too big for you. Try not to feel too..."
"Do you mean the Lancers aren't mine anymore?" Grayson cut in dully.
"That's exactly what I mean, Lieutenant. You are relieved. As you were never actually a member of the Trellwan armed forces other than through a special act by the King, I fail to see how they ever could have been... yours.
"At any rate, a company rates a captain, and you can't expect us to twist the whole structure of military command around just to accommodate you, do you? You will be retained as special advisor. Your knowledge of 'Mechs and 'Mech tactics makes you invaluable to us." Adel's eyebrows came together, his eyes narrowing. "That means no more of your gallivanting around in a combat zone. I will not risk having you killed and losing your expertise!"
"Sir, Sergeant Kalmar is..."
"That young lady is an enemy alien. She should never have been given rank or position within our armed forces! You were the one responsible for that gaff, I believe? Well, don't worry. As I said, you are young, inexperienced."
"What will happen to her?"
"That, Lieutenant, is none of your business."
"General, I demand..."
"You'll demand nothing, Lieutenant!"
"But..."
"Enough! I've wasted more time with you than I can spare. Dismissed!" With that, a sentry ushered Grayson out and into the marble corridors of the Palace.
General Adel stared after Grayson for long, hard seconds after he'd been escorted out. The young Commonwealther would have to be watched, and watched closely. It was always dangerous to allow any one man too much power. And control of the Lancers? No, he reminded himself, not the Lancers. It was control of the Tenth Regiment that meant power. Men would do anything to win power, and to hold it. Young Carlyle was very popular with his men. General Adel believed popular military commanders were never to be trusted.
Perhaps it would be best if Carlyle's career ended soon. A knife in the dark had solved such problems many times before in human history. He knew there had been a previous attempt, but no one in his command would have so botched the job by hiring untrustworthy perso
* * * *
Mara drew Grayson closer, her hands moving delicately at his ears, at the back of his neck. "But what are you going to do?”she asked, her dark eyes wide.
"I don't know, Mara. I really don't know." The shock of his talk with Adel had worn off, leaving him with a profound sense of emptiness, as though some i
"It's kind of hard to say. You know, when I started out... When I said I'd start an anti-Mech unit for your people, I was doing it for just one reason."
Her fingers moved along his chest, brushing at the few strands of hair there. "What was that?"
"Revenge. Revenge, pure and simple. I wanted to get back at the people who murdered my father, and I sure wasn't going to be able to do that on my own." He managed a smile. "Someone told me once I'd get into trouble on my own. I wish he could see me now.”
“But you're not alone, Gray. You have me." He pulled her close, and kissed her. "Thank you, love, but I needed help to fight back against those bandits, against that Marauder."He lay back on the bed, his eyes staring unseeing past the ceiling. "You know, those weeks building the Lancers, I think they were the best in my life. I was... building something... doing something that only I could do. And I had a purpose. I was going to destroy the 'Mech... and the MechWarrior who killed Dad."
"Maybe you were just trying to prove something to yourself."
He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe at first. I know I still want revenge. Want it more than anything else." He turned to Mara, probing his own feelings. "But after awhile, I had something more, something that pushed the whole question of revenge into the background.
"I had a purpose, a direction, and felt something like belonging. I was never so alone as when I found out all my people were gone... that I was marooned on Trellwan. The Lancers were like havig a family again, and that was special."