Mercenary's Star

Haraldssen had mistaken Nagumo’s silence for encouragement. "The people are restless, have been restless since your forces came here. Harsher treatment will only alienate them further. If we can demonstrate our good faith...."

"Good faith?" Nagumo twisted the words past his teeth. "To dogs and barbarians, jungle scum and blood-sucking vermin? Gah! If you think harsher treatment will alienate them, Haraldssen, you are mistaken. I will givethem amnesty...the amnesty I gave Mountain Vista!"

"Lord..."

"Silence!"Nagumo's slight frame seemed to grow, looming over Haraldssen as the Verthandian trembled. "The penalty for resisting the Draconis Combine is extermination! Do you hear me? You, my spineless lap dog, are the ruler of this benighted planet... under my hand!I charge you to crushthis rebellion, and that means tracking down these rebels skulking about in Verthandi's swamps and killing them! Not negotiating with them, not offering them terms or amnesty. Kill them! Kill their families! Destroy the villages that offer them shelter and food! If you fail, Academician, I shall not. If it means eradicating the jungles that give these vermin shelter, so be it, even if the process endsall native life on Verthandi!"

"Y-yes, Lord!"

“The raids on Combine garrisons and outposts, the pilfering of supplies and arms from Combine depots will cease. You and your people will maintain the Pax Draconis here, or I will intervene personally. I will burn Regis about your ears, if I must! I will order my BattleMech legions to dismantle your precious University stone by stone, shoot every third person in the city, and send the entire Council of Academicians and their families to Luthien in chains as slaves! I will have order restored'"

"Of course, my Lord. You needn't intervene, Lord. I'll...I'll issue new orders at once. The rebels will be hunted down and slaughtered, my Lord..."

"Then give the orders...and follow through with them. This world is Duke Ricol’s now, and has been given into my keeping. You will keep the peace in my name and his, or I will dispense with you and keep the peace myself—even if it means hanging every inhabitant and burning every village and farm between here and the Azure Sea! Now get out!"

Haraldssen hurried from the terrace as if pursued by a jungle chirops.

Nagumo watched the Academician go, then nodded to a black-uniformed guard who had stood u

"The man is a fool," Nagumo said, without preamble. "He wants to remain well-liked by the people, while maintaining the privileges of his position."

"Perhaps it is time to replace him, my Lord." Kevlavic was a large, blond man. The ragged scar that creased his face from the corner of his right eye to the point of his chin pulled the right side of his mouth sideways, creating a caricature of a grin. His eyes, however, were unrelentingly cold.

"Eventually, Colonel...but not yet Not quite yet." Nagumo rested the long, bony fingers of both hands on the ornate guard rail that rimmed the terrace. The jungle animals continued their chorus as the sun westered toward the brown hills on the horizon in a blaze of orange, green, and purple. He admired the beauty of the sunset, letting it sap the fury he had used as a lash on Haraldssen. "How went the campaign in Mountain Vista?"

Nagumo knew the answer already, of course, from Kevlavic's personal reports as well as from his own agents among the Colonel's men. Everyone was watched within the ranks of Lord Kurita's regiments.

"Quite well, my Lord. The town was 80 percent burned and the population driven into the hills. We uncovered quite a large cache of weapons and ammunition in the home of one of the village leaders. The man and his family tried to escape, but we were able to catch them. I had some of my boys make a long, slow example of them and then nail up the remains in the town square, where the locals'll find them when they return. They'll be a long time rebuilding. I don't think the rebels'll find a haven in Mountain Vista again."

"Good," Nagumo said curtly, all the while thinking, You are as much a fool as Haraldssen. One raid will not change their minds any more than his offer of amnesty. The rebellion will end when they are dead. All of them!

"We must continue our own campaign against the rebels, Colonel," he went on. "Our plan to allow the local government do our work for us is not progressing well at all. While you were gone last week, three of our garrisons were raided, as were seven Verthandian army posts. Eight Kurita troops were killed, and I don't know how many locals. Their raids are increasing."

"Still, Lord, there seems to be no purpose or direction to those raids. They have no central leadership, no plan or cohesion among their units. They are harassing attacks only."

"And they will cease! Duke Ricol has personally ordered me to end the rebellion here. It will be ended...one way or another."

"Yes, my Lord."

"We will take Verthandi in our fists and squeeze until the last drop of blood has trickled through our fingers. The Duke may have need of this world...but he does not need the people...not all of them, at any rate. Human beings are cheap, easily imported. We will bring in our own if we ca

"Yes, my Lord."

"Good. Now, another matter."

"Lord?"

"Our fleet base on Verthandi-Alpha has reported receiving radio transmissions and IFF codes from a freighter arrived at the zenith point. This visitor was not expected, but claims to be a freelance mercenary hired by the Combine. A UnionClass DropShip is now bound in-system."

Kevlavic's brow furrowed. "To what purpose, Lord?"

"Most likely Procurement has scrambled things once again and has sent a shipment of supplies and ‘Mech spares early. Still, it is best to be prepared. Right now, the rebels in the swamps are little more than a nuisance. With outside help, they could begin to pose a real threat to our timetable."

"It might be a Lyran raider, Lord."

"Possible, but unlikely. It might also be a freelance raider, but I don't think that likely either. Any raiding force would have to come with more force aboard than a single DropShip could carry. Still, we will not take chances. If that ship sets down, you will shuttle a force there immediately and take command of local defenses. A DropShip in the employ of hostile forces must not be allowed to lift off again, nor must its crew be allowed to establish contact with the rebels. Understood?"

"Yes, my Lord!"

"Very well. Dismissed."

Colonel Kevlavic saluted smartly, turned on his heel, and strode; from the terrace.

Across the sava

Governor-General Masayoshi Nagumo found the faint jungle noises most pleasant.

6

The straight-line distance from the Norn zenith point to Verthandi was 1.39 AU, a hair over 207 million kilometers. At a steady boost of 1 G, allowing for a mid-course turn-over and deceleration, the trip took 80 hours. On the decks between bunks stacked six-high, the facilities of a DropShip loaded with ‘Mechs, supplies, and perso