Mercenary's Star

It was begi

A secret and unexpected site for an advance base camp.

The surprising thing was that the enemy forces had not been more thorough. Grayson had expected the electronics and machinery to be gone, but he'd also expected to find the cave dynamited, the island stripped bare of trees, the ground scorched. They had probably been in a hurry, he decided. From the reports he'd been getting, Nagumo's forces were being stretched tighter and tighter. The units that had staged this raid must have had to return to Regis as soon as they knew that the rebel column was beyond their reach to the south.

The place hadbeen mined. The Dracos had sown both antiperso

Khaled approached from the direction of the mansion. "We found them," he said, eyes dark and grave. "In the house?"

The Mech Warrior nodded. "Identification will be a problem."

Grayson turned and stared at the jungle, working to keep his feelings from showing. According to the muster books, eighteen of his own people had been at Fox Island when the raiders struck. Some might have been taken prisoner. Yorulis had been shot. The rest the Dracos had left in the burning house. Sixty-five rebels had been here as well. How many of them were still alive? Just counting the bodies left in the mansion would be a harrowing chore.

"We'll bury them in the jungle," he said quietly. "If we can't identify them then, well... that will be another we owe Nagumo for."

Khaled nodded.

Grayson turned to Ramage. "O.K., orders. When your people have gone over the area thoroughly—and I mean thoroughly—call them together. First off, deactivate all the anti-perso

Khaled's eyes lighted. "You want their patrols to assume we have not returned," he said.

"Right. And if they do, the remaining mines will have been moved."

Ramage gri

"I'm hoping they'll be too busy for that Next, I want to set up a camp, a small one, just a few tents and lean-tos." He pointed north, past the ruin of the machine shop. "Let's put it over merc. Detail a watch to keep the place looking lived in. No fires yet...not until they're sure we're here. But have the stuff ready to make one. And plant a bunch of the mines you move in that area."

"Ah! So when Nagumo's ‘Mechs come to check on someone living here again..."

"They walk into their own surprise. Correct. Make sure you get good people for that detail, though. They'll have to be ready to move quick. They'll be volunteers, of course."

Ramage nodded.

"O.K. I don't see any reason to stay here. If the caves check out, we'll use that as a place to keep our ‘Mechs out of sight, and it'll be a good place for ammo trucks and supplies to rendezvous with us."

"Are you putting ‘Mech facilities in down there?"

"Some." He scowled. "We're short on Techs."

"Most of them were here when the Dracos came."

'Two of the rebel MechWarriors are pretty fair Techs, though. Olin Sonovarro and Vikki Traxen both worked with machinery and electronics before they opted for the outdoor life. Davis McCall may be an even better Tech than he is a MechWarrior. It's a wonder he didn't choose it in the first place. The money's certainly better."

"Unless you were crazy enough to sign on with a mercenary unit fighting a rebellion on a jungle planet"

"Yeah, well...Anyway, I may transfer them to the Tech department until we can scare up some more." "

Ramage rocked back on his heels, his thumbs hooked into his belt He paused, locking as though he were smelling the air, before he answered. "We're going to need all our Warriors pretty damn soon, Captain."

"I'm well aware of it, Ram. But first we're going to need Techs.McCall told me the other night that it wouldn't take too long to rig a couple of repair cradles down in those caves. Some of the bracing and mounting brackets for blocks and tackle are still in place."

"So? That's good news."

"Right, because it means we'll be able to re-arm our ‘Mechs right here, and not have to traipse clear back to Westlee to do it. McCall thinks we may be able to do some minor repair work here, too. Armor plate patches, circuit replacement, that sort of thing."

"Won't be too difficult," Ramage agreed, "if we can get the parts."

"Oh, we'll get the parts," Grayson said. "Governor General Nagumo will provide us with all the parts we need. I'm counting on him to provide us with some new BattleMechs, too."

Ramage lifted an eyebrow. "Getting cocky in your old age?"

"Nope. Getting tired of being shoved around by Nagumo, though. With this place back in operation as a base, we'll be able to shove himaround for a change."

* * * *

Sergeant Rodney Pallonby tilted his Phoenix Hawk'shead, sca

He canted the Phoenix Hawk'shead down to check the column of prisoners. There were fifty of them, all women, ragged and dirty and held in single file by lengths of rope draped from neck to neck for the column's length. Draco soldiers, some in the black of officers, others in the dull orange and brown of a line regiment, walked in columns to either side.

Showing little emotion, the women plodded forward in line, heads bowed, wrists bound behind their backs. Pallonby decided that the events of the past twenty hours had probably short-circuited whatever emotions they might have felt The battle at Regis University had left hundreds dead and many hundreds more prisoner in the rubble-choked University courtyard. For most of the day following the battle, the Governor General's personal Guard had been identifying ringleaders of the conspiracy that had infested the Loyalist Verthandian government. The shootings had gone on all day and through much of the night, leaving the corpses piled high in the streets outside the University.

All of the men who were left, and most of the women, had been chained together and marched off toward the south earlier that morning. The men would be employed in the mines at the desert's edge, mines run under Kurita supervision. Nagumo himself had picked out women, saying that they would be lifted off world in a Kurita freighter, transported to another Combine world as hostages for the behavior of the rest. Pallonby wondered if it wasn't more likely that they were bound for joyhouses on Luthien or elsewhere across Kurita's domain. Women such as these would bring good prices from the right buyers, and someone like Nagumo would be certain to have those co