Страница 42 из 85
"So why couldn't hecarry everything off?" Clay asked.
"What would an engineering battalion commander use for ships?"
There was a stu
"So the cache had still to have been on Helm," Grayson said.
"Exactly. If it was an incontrovertible fact that the cache was here before the war began, and if it was also an incontrovertible fact that there were no ships available to move the cache once the war began, it follows that Keeler didn't transport the cache offplanet. He musthave simply . . . hidden it."
Grayson looked thoughtful. "Hiddenit? Then it's still here."
"And somebody is going to a hell of a lot of trouble to get us out of the way so that they can find it.”
“How are we in the way?"
"Perhaps . . . because you are the military governor of the district," King said, with a shrug. "My source wasn't sure."
"And . . . just who is this source?"
King rubbed his jaw, then shook his head. "Colonel. . . I can't tell you."
"Laddie," McCall said. "Ah think ye damn weel better . . ."
"Save it, Davis," Grayson said. He studied King narrowly. "You're satisfied with this information?"
"I am, Colonel. But my source . . . doesn't want to have his part known in this."
"You'll have to tell this sooner or later, Alard. If it's the integrity of the regiment ..."
"Give me some time on that, Colonel. Maybe . . . maybe one day I'll take you in to meet . . . him."
* * *
Tracy Maxwell Kent stood on the rocky bank above the Araga River, clenching her fists so hard that her whole body trembled, her angry gaze took in the rushing water, the huge, tumbled blocks of sandstone along the shallow river, the wooded hills that enclosed her on every side. This shouldn't be happening to her! It was the final blow in a long series of setbacks that had brought her . . . here. Here!
This slim, dark-haired, pretty young woman was the eldest daughter of one of the wealthiest noble families in the Federated Suns. Though she had been raised to become a cultured, elegant lady, her sheltered and proper life had been shattered by the combat death of her adored older brother, Captain Sir Roderick Fitzroy Kent, when she was twenty. Tracy promptly decided that the only way to redeem his death was to join the Davion Military Academy, and become a MechWarrior like Fitz. It was all well and good for the eldest son of the family to become a MechWarrior, but Tracy's father protested that properly raised young ladies of good families and noble background simply did not do such things.
Tracy stubbornly entered the Academy anyway. Stubborn in his own way, her father had used his influence to have her expelled on a technicality.
Infuriated by these high-handed tactics, Tracy decided to join the line infantry as a private instead of returning home to her family. Within two years, she had worked her way up to Tech sergeant, attempting to become a MechWarrior the hard way—from the ground up. After two more years of training and serving as an astech for Blackely's Blackguards, she had the chance to replace a 'Mech pilot killed during a particularly hot action on Proserpina. Her skill and daring so impressed Colonel Blackely that she won a battlefield commendation and was allowed to stay on as a Phoenix Hawkpilot in the Blackguard's recon lance.
The Blackguards had been forced to disband after losing over fifty percent of their strength in the debacle at Cassias, leaving Tracy as a free agent with her own Phoenix Hawk.After making her way to Galatea in the Lyran Commonwealth, she had made the acquaintance of Sharyl.
Like Captain Ramage, Sharyl had no other name. Her culture on Dahar IV, like that of Trell I, used given names only. Another fiercely independent soul escaping an oppressive family, she had somehow drifted into the world of BattleMech mercenaries. Recognizing in Tracy a kindred spirit, she had taken her to Lori Kalmar, Executive Officer of the Gray Death Legion. Thus had the Legion become Tracy's new home.
That was only four standard months before. The Gray Death had been engaged in Liao space at the time, and Lori Kalmar had been present on Galatea solely for the purpose of recruiting new mercenaries to the fast-growing Legion. Instead of being thrown directly into combat, Tracy had been assigned to the Legion's Company B and sent to the new landhold on Helm.
"Our people are being transferred right now from our temporary cantonment on Graham IV to our new home on Helm," Lori had explained. "We're putting you in with the trainees there, under Lieutenant DeVillar. Not because we think you don't know your business, but because we want to give you a chance to settle in, to get to know us . . . and for us to know you. You'll help build our new home at Durandel, on Helm. You'll help train the new recruits . . . including the MechWarrior apprentices in B Company. When the Liao campaign is over, we'll either bring you into A Company to fill a hole, or we'll turn B Company into a second first-line 'Mech company, and create a new one—C Company—for trainees and new recruits. Colonel Carlyle is looking to expand the 'Mech Company into a full battalion as soon as we have the warriors and machines to do it. It won't be long before you're in a line regiment again."
"And how long will that be?" Tracy had wanted to know.
"When the Liao campaign is over, probably. Not long, another five months maybe."
Five months! That was an eternity! Tracy had tasted enough combat to know that she was good, damned good. With experience, she would be fantastic, a terror of the battlefield whose reputation would make her father's jaw drop open when he heard of it. But five months of raising walls and training raw recruits! She'd almost turned Lori down right then, but knew she was better off accepting a ground floor chance in the Legion than spending many more months hanging around Galatea's seedy starport bars looking for work with another merc force.
The Gray Death already had a bright reputation as a fast, hard-hitting, brilliantly deployed merc unit, one that had taken on outrageous odds and won. Its young commander had his own reputation as a brilliant, unorthodox, and perhaps visionary tactician. If Tracy Maxwell Kent was to make a name for herself as a warrior, Grayson Carlyle's unit could give her the chance.
Since making her decision four months ago, she had worked tirelessly at Durandel, overseeing the rise of the new community there, readying Castle Helmhold for the regiment's return. She had even permitted her beloved Phoenix Hawkto be shipped out aboard the Deimos,when the Invidioushad called back at Helm for spare parts and supplies. After the debacle at Cassias, the Dutiful Daughterwas all she'd had to keep alive the hope of becoming a renowned warrior one day. When the Legion needed the Hawkas a reserve 'Mech for A Company in the fighting on Sirius V, Tracy had let them take the Daughterbecause she believed in the unit and what it was doing. She had come to accept the other members of the regiment as a kind of extended family. After all, they accepted Tracy for herself and not because she was the daughter of Lord Rodney Howard Kent of New Avalon.