The Price of Glory

* * *

Colonel Langsdorf stood on the ground next to his Warhammer'sfoot, on the crest of a hill a kilometer from the river. Lord Garth was with him, as well as General Kleider and officers of his staff, all recently arrived from Helmdown.

"I don't believe what I'm seeing," Kleider said. "The idiot is chargingour line! And after the battering they've already taken!"

The Marauderat the head of the mercenary forces was among the Marik BattleMechs now. The sounds of battle were muted and distant, but the men on the hilltop could clearly hear Carlyle's heavy autoca

White fire lanced out from a Marik Shadow Hawkand a Wolverine,catching the mercenary's Riflemanin a blistering crossfire. The watchers could see that the Gray Death 'Mech was already severely damaged. As they raised electronic binoculars to their eyes and zoomed in on the scene unfolding below, several of Kleider's aides began to bet with one another on how many shots the damaged Riflemancould take before it went down.

"Twenty C-Bs ... he won't last thirty seconds," one said as he checked his wristcomp.

"You're on. The Wolverine'sgoing to have to shift to that Marauderany second ... Ah! There! That'll give the Riflemana breather!"

"Nah! Our boys are charging now. He's surrounded! Look! Our Crusaderis up close now. This won't take long!"

"The merc Crusader'scoming up to the rescue!"

"Not in time! Ha! There goes the Rifleman . . .fourteen seconds! You owe me! Gods, look at him burn!"

Langsdorf felt a twisting in his stomach as he watched and listened. "Carlyle is a brave man . . . and a fine commander," he said at last, in a voice deliberately loud enough to interrupt the comments from the General's junior staff.

"You forget yourself, Colonel," Kleider said. "The man is responsible for the deaths of millions."

"Is he, General? I wonder ... I have been engaging him in combat almost continually now for several days. I find him resourceful, daring, brave, intelligent . . . Frankly, it's hard to reconcile this warrior with the mad dog butcher you say massacred a city on Sirius V."

To that, Garth and Kleider made no reply.

* * *

McCall was down. Grayson had seen him go, his Riflemanspouting flame. "McCall! Are you there?" Grayson yelled into his mike. There was no answer, but a moment later, Grayson saw the Rifleman'srear escape hatch open, and a ragged and bearded figure climb out and drop to the muddy ground. A Gray Death hovercraft hissed close by, risking laser fire and the swinging of the Mech's foot as one of the crewmen pulled the dazed McCall aboard.

Clay's Wolverinestood near, pumping ca

Suddenly, Lori's Shadow Hawkstaggered under the impact of a rapid-fire volley of missiles, striking her down from behind. Grayson swung his Marauderand opened fire on her attacker, a heavily damaged Griffin.The two stood there, dueling over Lori's fallen 'Mech, until Grayson's more powerful PPCs melted through the Griffin'sarmor, setting the lighter 'Mech ablaze.

"Lori!"

"I'm . . . all right, Gray! Armor's burned through in my back! Fires . . . but my extinguishers have them under control!"

"Get up if you can! They're closing in!"

Lori struggled to bring her terribly damaged Shadow Hawkto its feet. Grayson, meanwhile, continued to trigger his 'Mech's heavy weapons at the advancing Marik 'Mechs. He was drenched in sweat and the Marauder'scomputer was warning of imminent shutdown.

This can't go on much longer,he thought.

34

"This can't go on much longer," Garth said, looking at his wrist computer. "Are they going to smash each other to pieces? What about the DropShips?"

"What about them, Your Grace?" Langsdorf asked, with barely concealed contempt. "We can't approach them until the enemy has been beaten, which, at the moment, he most obviously is not!"

The general's aides cheered. Another enemy 'Mech was down, the big, combative Wolverine."Yah!" One junior lieutenant yelled as a comrade tugged the binoculars away from him. "Step on the pilot! Step on the pilot!"

"Damn! The bastard got away! Maybe our boys should start potting at those hovercraft!”

“Hey, another one's burning!”

“Idiot. It's one of ours!"

"No, no! That one! One of the merc’s Stingers!Ho! Man! Did you see that? What PPC fire does to a Stingeris notto be believed!"

Langsdorf turned at the sound of a hovercraft approaching at high speed from behind. The maneuverable little transport slowed as it approached the Warhammerand the coterie of officers. There was a single man at the control stick, his Adept's robes soaked with blood.

"Here . . . what's this?" Kleider said. "What are you ..."

Before he could finish the phrase, the Adept vaulted over to the side of his vehicle as it came to ground on its plenum skirts, and stalked toward Langsdorf. The blood that stained his robes, it seemed, was not his own, yet his face showed the mark of some terrible, i

"Let him come," Langsdorf said. "It is one of the ComStar Adepts."

At the sound of a dull, hollow boom signaling some enormous explosion. Langsdorf turned and raised his binoculars. A Marik Wasphad exploded, sending a huge ball of fire rocketing into the sky, and scattering burning chunks of metal across the battlefield.

The explosion seemed to mark a breaking of the Marik force's will. Langsdorf noted Captain Tarlborough's Warhammerleading the rest of the Marik 'Mechs as they splashed through the broad, shallow water of the Vermillion toward the rear. The mercenary 'Mechs advanced to the water's edge and waded in, taking advantage of the water to cool their hot drive and combat systems. The Marik 'Mechs formed up on the north side of the river, milling about uncertainly. Some of them appeared to be in bad shape.

Langsdorf turned back to the Adept. "Can I help you, Adept? We're a little busy right now ..."

The Adept scarcely looked the part. His cowl was back off his head, and his wispy, straw-blond hair was matted across his forehead in sweat and grime.

"Colonel Langsdorf . . . ?"

Langsdorf nodded.

"I am Adept Larabee, of Comstar's Helmdown Station. I ..." He hesitated, suddenly unsure of himself. "You . . . you must stop the battle, Colonel!"

"Nonsense!" Kleider pointed. "Arrest this man!"

"Touch me and you risk a ComStar Edict!"

Kleider's troops froze where they stood, bewildered. A ComStar Edict could deprive a world . . . or a number of worlds ... of the services of the ComStar HPG transmitters. Loss of access to an interstellar communications network was of little personal import to the soldiers who stood there, but they knew Edictas a near-magical word of curse and dread. They looked back toward their leaders, uncertain.