Riposte

Hanse shook his head and held up his hands. "I understand how well people like him. Ilike him. I brought him to New Avalon as a hostage against his father, and everyone knew it. But Morgan seemed to forget why he'd been called from New Syrtis. In just a few months, he 'owned' my people and this world." Why can't you two see what is my real concern about him?"Dammit, gentlemen, he's a Hasek!"

"Hanse, he's a Davion!" Shaking his head, Ardan stepped from behind the bar and positioned himself in front of the Prince. "I've talked to him here, in court, at parties, in the barracks, and during operations for Galahad. He's a Davion, through and through. His father may despise you, but Morgan sees himself asa Davion. His first duty is to your House, and you'll never know how thrilled he was to be called to New Avalon." Ardan stared at his friend. "If he's disloyal, I can't see it."

Hanse frowned impatiently. "Reading disloyalty is not your job, Ardan. Quintus, what say you?"

Quintus smoothed the white hair at the nape of his neck. "Everything I have on Morgan echoes what Ardan says."

"Yes, but how certain are you of the information?"

Quintus looked puzzled. "Sire?"

Hanse held up his hands. "Take it for granted, gentlemen, that I believe what you have to say about Morgan. That said, let us look at this from a worst-case scenario. Maximilian Liao and Takashi Kurita ascended to their throne by engineering coups that 'eliminated' their own fathers. With the marriage threatening to move Morgan out of the succession, he would be motivated to strike, were he so inclined. And there will be ample opportunities for him to do so, especially if he is my best man. I can't cast him in that role and then have you, Quintus, making security arrangements without letting him know about them. That would put the lie to any good will we might get out of this choice."

Ardan snorted derisively. "Now you're getting toopolitical, Hanse. What do you want to do, slip a spy in on Morgan?"

Light glinted in the Prince's eyes. "Better that than be slain at the altar." He looked over at Quintus. "The agent we used to keep tabs on your son Justin on Solaris VII... the woman whose jaw he broke. What was her name?"

"Lady Kym Sorenson."

Hanse looked away, his eyes focusing distantly. "She has recovered from her injuries and is prepared to work again?"

The Prince's spymaster nodded. "She's even here on New Avalon, sire. Enrolled as a student at the New Avalon Institute of Science to monitor suspected ComStar ROM agent activity."

"Shift her primary focus away from that. Keep her at the NAIS. That's good cover, but I have a more important mission for her." The Prince glanced at an appointment calendar on his desk. "I'll have a party to celebrate my betrothal a week from Friday. Morgan will be there, of course. By then, I expect him to be escorting Lady Kym. I want her to determine the depth of his loyalty."

"As you will, my Prince."

Hanse sat back and smiled to himself. Yes. Morgan is an excellent choice. If his loyalty does prove true, his appointment will reap other fruit as well. It will tell Michael Hasek-Davion that no matter how strong he believes himself and House Hasek, I have his son. And in Morgan, I have House Hasek itself.

5

Zaniah III

Isle of Skye, Lyran Commonwealth

22 October 3027

Captain Daniel Allard stared out the aircar's window as the reddish-yellow wasteland flashed below and beside at dizzying speeds. The aircar's shadow raced ahead of the craft, flittering like a black spectre over the uneven desert landscape. The driver, a Brother from the monastery, clearly enjoyed racing the vehicle over the kilometers of trackless canyons and long-dead lava flows that separated St. Marinus House from the rest of Zaniah III.

How will I ever tell Morgan that his brother is dead?Dan swallowed hard against the lump rising in his throat. Patrick used to tell me that the way to tell next of kin should be whatever way I'd want to hear about the death of my own kin.Watching the wild landscape rush past, Dan thought about the sad irony that now he'd be using the dead Patrick's advice to a

Brother Keith banked the aircar around a massive red sandstone column and down into a valley. "Not too much longer, Captain Allard."

Dan managed a weak smile. "Thanks." He wiped his brow against his forearm. "Hot here, isn't it?"

The cleric nodded. "And this is the cooler season. Morgan says that were the desert a BattleMech cockpit, the computers would constantly be threatening to shut down and most pilots would have fainted from the heat."

Dan nodded, then shot a cautious glance at Brother Keith. "How is he?"

"Morgan Kell?"

"Yes."

Brother Keith inhaled slowly, then frowned. "I've only been here for the last five years, so I've only known him that long. He's been here ... what... eleven years?"

Dan nodded. "Since 3016."

"Right." Brother Keith shrugged. "A lot of what I know is from what others have told me—which isn't that much, because people here aren't much given to gossip. I've been told, though, that living here has done wonders for him. He's come to grips with most of the demons haunting his soul, though he maintains that some things still prevent him from formally entering the order." Brother Keith smiled. "Pity. He's a good man."

Yeah. I can recall a time when I would have made the same comment about Morgan.Dan swallowed and remembered the day that had been the proudest of his life till then. Despite the layers of conflicting emotions around it, the memory raised a smile. When Morgan showed me the letter from Hanse Davion assigning me to the Kell Hounds for my six years with the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns, hell, that was better than graduating from the New Avalon Military Academy at 18.Not only had Dan managed to enter and exit that academy younger than anyone else in its history, but one of the hottest mercenary units in the Successor States had asked for him. He had felt higher than the universe that night, but the fall was as swift and surprising as the rise.

Brother Keith glanced over at the slender, blue-eyed man who was his passenger. "You were there, weren't you? You were on Mallory's world when it happened to him . . ."

Dan stiffened. "You mean his last battle? The one with Yorinaga Kurita?" He nodded slowly. "If that's the fight you're talking about, yes, I was there. If you mean the 3013 campaign when Yorinaga killed Prince Ian Davion, no, I wasn'tthere. I'd not joined the Kell Hounds at that point."

Brother Keith slid the aircar down a small slope and into a broad arroyo. Sand and dust billowed up around the vehicle, but the cleric managed to keep ahead of the cloud. "Yes, I meant the 3016 battle. What really happened to Morgan?"

Dan hesitated and the seconds-long silence felt heavy and awkward. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to pry," Brother Keith said apologetically. "It's just that Morgan always seems so normal and friendly and open until the conversation touches on his past. I don't mean to suggest that anyone is trying to dig into his background ... Anyway, the history of the Kell Hounds is an open book. Open, except for what happened in that battle on Mallory's World."

Dan forced a grin but there was no smile in his eyes. "No offense taken, Brother Keith. As they say in MechWarrior circles, 'No autopsy, no foul.' What happened in that battle has never been a closed or hidden story." Dan's reserve began to thaw as dread drained from his insides. "You just haven't spoken to anyone who knows about it."