The Price of Glory

"Precentor ... I was not aware of any rush ..."

"You fool! You bloody, malfing fool! Look at this!"

Garth looked past Rachan to the computer display. In the center of the map was a miniature galaxy of light pinpoints gathered along what looked like a satellite photograph of a dried river bank. A huge, vertical cliff caught the direct light of the morning sun.

"You see them, Garth? That is the Gray Death Legion enhanced by infrared light . . . Several hundred troops, several hundred civilians, a number of vehicles . . . and at least eight BattleMechs. There is a Marauderthere. That will be Carlyle."

"You've found them? Where . . . ?"

"Camped by a dry river valley, close against the Nagayan Mountains, 500 kilometers south of here."

"Well, he's stolen a march, but he'll be slowed, crossing those mountains. There are mountain passes, of course, but travel through them will be difficult. We can still catch him ..."

Rachan pointed to the cliff and explained slowly, as though speaking with a not-too-bright child. "You see that, Garth? See it? It is a cliff. A sheer, straight, vertical cliff. It looks perfectly natural, does it not? And yet, can you imagine a soldier of Grayson Carlyle's proven battle skill camping in such a place, with no line of retreat . . . no way out should we come down on him from the north or east? No . . . you wouldn't see that, because you are too dim-witted to perceive a trap when you face one! There can be only one reason why Carlyle and his people are camped there . . . only one!" Rachan paused and pounded the table viciously as he spat out, "He has found the Star League cache!"

"Found the . . . but how? How? You told me your ComStar researchers had studied the records for years, looking for some clue."

"I don't know, Garth." The Precentor chewed at his lip as he studied the computer projection. "Maybe something he found at Helmfast. Maybe blind, stupid luck. But now . . . now,looking at where he is, the artificiality of his surroundings is obvious!"

Garth looked closely. "What do you mean? I see a cliff . . . big rocks ..."

"You see what you expect to see. What you don't see is why the river that carved out that valley flowed directly into a sheer, blank rock wall . . . and then vanished!"

"You mean that cliff ..."

"Is a doorway of some sort. It almost certainly leads to what we've been searching for for so long, and Carlyle is about to get it!"

"What's he waiting for?"

"A key, I should imagine. He needs to figure out how to get in."

"And if he finds it?" Garth's face worked uncertainly. "Suppose he turns the weapons inside against us!"

Rachan snorted. "Nonsense. Not in the time he has! Any 'Mechs stored there will not have their weapons mounted, will not be stocked with ammunition. It would take time to power up their reactors."

"Then what's the problem?"

"If he gets in, he will seek to bargain with us." Rachan shook his head, his face set in grim lines. "It is the only thing he can do . . . give us what we want, in exchange for his life and the life of his troops. What he can't know is that we can outlast him. However deep that storehouse is buried, however large it may be, the Gray Death Legion ca

"So . . .we will starve them out?"

"We will do whatever is necessary. And the first thing that is necessary, Garth, is that you not command the forces against him."

"What? Wait! You can't do that ..."

"You forget yourself, Garth. Iam in command of this expedition, and I alone, remember? Colonel Langsdorf showed excellent judgment, speed, and pla

"With a spy's help ..."

"That's right, with a spy's help, but it was Colonel Langsdorf who gave the spy his opportunity, who had his troops in the right place at the right time to assist the spy, who managed the battle in a brilliant fashion. I am sorry, Garth, but this campaign is far too important to be left in your blundering, thumb-fingered hands!"

Garth didn't think Rachan sounded sorry at all. "You ca

"Consider it a . . . promotion.Your Grace. You and I will be on the field as observers only, watching as Colonel Langsdorf closes the trap on our prey.

"But it willbe Colonel Langsdorf who leads, Garth. I have watched you, and you could not lead your nose to your face!"

Garth bristled, but Rachan soothed him with a motion of his hand, and a tired smile. "Peace, Your Grace, peace. I meant no disrespect. Langsdorf is a trained and talented military leader, and you are not . . . but that is not your disgrace." He shrugged. "I have already discussed matters with the Colonel, and he has worked up a plan to overwhelm the Gray Death. Perhaps we can trap him against the mountains, if he does not find the key he seeks. Perhaps we can pin him inside the cache, if he finds a way in. In any case, we must overcome the results of your incompetence." Rachan turned back to study the map, dismissing the Duke of Irian.

"You press too far, Rachan," Garth said.

"Because I have great ambitions, Garth. Ambitions that someone like you ca

"Thatshould satisfy even you!”

26

There were rain clouds in the west, piling into the sky above the Dead Sea Flats on the horizon. Bubble tents had sprouted like bizarre, camouflaged mushrooms on either side of the dry river valley. The Legion's non-combatants clustered in the center of the encampment, with the soldiers and armored vehicles around the perimeter. On the outskirts, waiting and watchful, were A Company's surviving BattleMechs.

Grayson stood on a small rise by the river bank, watching the gathering clouds. He had just had the usual experience of speaking by radio with Colonel Addison, regimental commander of a House Kurita special strike force aboard the DropShip fleet. Already inbound, Ricol's DropShips were accelerating toward Helm at a spine-pounding 2.5 Gs. They would swing end for end sometime that night and begin deceleration leg, entering atmosphere above the Nagayan Mountains by late afternoon tomorrow.

Grayson had until then to get inside the cache, find what there was to find, and prepare to leave the planet. There was still no word from the Deimosand the Phobos,which was not good. Addison had not been in contact with Ricol, and that in itself was strange. Dulaney shouldhave joined Ricol's forces long before daylight, and they should have heard someword by now, either reporting success or a