The Price of Glory

First and foremost, though, he had to do what he could to save the regiment.

But what is theright thing to do?he wondered. If I can save the Legion by striking a deal with Garth—or even Rachan—should I? Or should I try to use the weapons to strike a deal with someone else ? Who, though ? No one on Helm believes we didn't destroy Tiantan. So far as Steiner or Davion are concerned, we’re outlaws. They won't even talk to us!

"Colonel?"

Grayson turned at the sound of Alard King's voice. The senior Tech had moved up so quietly that Grayson had not heard him.

Or maybe Lori was right, and he was asleep on his feet.

"Yes, Alard?"

The Tech looked uncertain. "Sir, I've got to talk to you. It's about what you told us just now.”

“Yes?"

"It's . . . well, I may have some additional information for you, something else to figure into your plans."

"O.K. What is it?" It was not like King to be so indirect. It almost seemed that he was afraid.

"I'm not entirely sure how to tell you this, Colonel . . . but I'm an agent."

Grayson looked at him blankly. "Agent? What kind of agent?”

"A spy, sir. I'm a spy."

Grayson found himself laughing, somewhat to his own surprise, and certainly to King's. "What's so fu

"It's just that I don't think I've ever seen things get so complicated! Graff was a spy for Marik, thenit turned out he was really a spy for ComStar. We've got spies ru

"Duke Hassid Ricol."

Grayson's smile vanished instantly, his amusement suddenly gone, and even his exhaustion, too. He stared at King with a hard, cold expression. The Tech moved uncomfortably under his gaze.

Duke Ricol! The man was a Kurita noble, whose power extended across several worlds on the Steiner-Kurita frontier. This gave him the actual power of an archduke, for dukes generally had responsibility for only a single world. Ricol had a reputation as a warrior, though he had not been in combat for many years. Along the Steiner border, he was well known, though, as "the Red Duke" or "the Red Hunter."

It had been Duke Ricol who had conceived the plan four years before, one that had burned Ricol's name and face into the memory of one young Grayson Death Carlyle. That plan had begun while a combined-arms mercenary force consisting of a BattleMech company and several platoons of infantry prepared to withdraw from a small and relatively unimportant world called Trell I, or Trellwan, near the Kurita border. A pirate raid struck the world in a surprise attack that destroyed the mercenary force and conquered the world's principal city and star-port. With the civilian populace ground under the heel of the conquering marauders, it was pla

The mercenary force had been Carlyle's Commandos, and its commander, Captain Durant Carlyle, had died during the initial landing of the pirate force. Grayson had been injured, and left for dead while the remnants of Carlyle's Commandos fled the planet. Stranded on Trell I, Grayson ultimately discovered that the pirates were in league with Duke Ricol in a clever ploy to conquer a world andthe hearts of its people in a single operation.

It was on Trellwan that the Gray Death Legion had been born, child of Grayson's determination to win vengeance against the bloody Kurita Red Duke.

Grayson had won a small measure of vengeance on Trellwan. He had won a second measure of revenge on Verthandi, a world nominally under Ricol's suzerainty, though the planet's actual ruler had been a Kurita Governor-General named Nagumo.

Since then, Grayson's driving need to avenge his father's death and the destruction of Carlyle's Commandos had dimmed. Perhaps it had been tempered by the growing realization that what he had here and now—the Gray Death Legion, and friends like Ramage and Lori—were more precious to him than vengeance on a minor Kurita duke.

Now, though, mention of the Red Duke's name roused memories, thoughts, and emotions that Grayson had thought long-buried. His eyes bored into King's as though trying to open the Senior Tech's soul. "What . . ." He had to stop and bring his voice under control. "What is Ricol's interest in me now?"

"You needn't be modest, Colonel." King regained a small measure of his accustomed confidence, perhaps realizing that Grayson was not going to kill him outright. "His Grace has been interested in you since Trellwan. You created a BattleMech force out of nothing . . . and went on to beat a much larger 'Mech force with it, singlehandedly. On Verthandi, you were even better. What did you have there? Something like a company of 'Mechs?"

"Seven. Plus the local militia."

"And then you trained the rebels and the militia, with almost no equipment at the start. The Verthandians could never have won free without your help."

Grayson crossed his arms, watching King warily. "So what's your point?"

"I told you the other day about what I had learned in town. I was not able to tell you who I learned it from."

"Yes?"

"The local agent for the Combine is a woman named Dierdre Rave

"But she also knows Duke Ricol. You see, Ricol has been interested in Helm for a long time."

"Helm? Why?"

"According to Deirdre, a number of Kurita nobles and officers have been intrigued by the place. You see, they've all read the report Minoru Kurita made at the conclusion of the Helm Campaign in 2788. And they reached the same conclusion you did, in the same way you did. The Star League cache had to be here. It couldn't be moved . . . and yet it was gone when Kurita arrived with his battle fleet. It has not surfaced in almost three centuries. Therefore, it has got to be around here . . . somewhere .”

"And Ricol was one of those nobles."

"He was. He also had an advantage over the others. He is wealthy and powerful, even for a Duke, and he maintains a JumpShip—the Huntress—as his personal vessel. And don't think he hasn't been keeping an eye on you ever since you bested him—again—at Verthandi last year.”

"You."

"Me. He sent me to Galatea a year ago, with instructions to seek you out, impress you with my technical skills, and to join the Gray Death Legion." King smiled. "I didn't realize you would make me Senior Tech . . . and your own personal Tech as well. That was an unexpected bonus. When His Grace realized that you were being granted the Helmfast landhold, that you would become, in fact, the key to the lost Helman cache, he grew very interested, indeed."

"All of which brings us to the key question," Grayson said. The exhaustion was returning, now that the shock of revelation had ebbed. He rubbed his eyes, then looked up at King. "Why are you telling me all this? If you want me to tell you where the cache is so you can tell Ricol, forget it."