Bloodname

"The battle is not going well," she said. "Your units are badly needed, which is the message Kael Pershaw ordered me to relay to you."

Then she explained in precise detail what had occurred before she had started on her mission. Horse noted that the battle must still be raging, judging by the distant sounds of warfare and the way the night sky seemed light gray instead of deep blue.

Turning back to Lanja, he gestured to several cuts on her face and neck. "Those cuts are bad," he said.

"That does not matter," Lanja told him. Nevertheless, Horse quickly got out the medkit and started working on her.

"I am using bloodpetals," Horse said. "They will suck out any infections, then accelerate the healing of the cuts."

Lanja did not seem to be listening to Horse's comments. She turned to speak to Aidan, urgency in her voice: "If you continue on your present course, you are likely to come out just behind the Clan Wolf forces. That is, if my calculations are correct. We know how easily data can become distorted by the conditions of this place."

"Knowing we will emerge behind Clan Wolf could be a strategic advantage," Aidan commented. "But we are only eight. That would not be enough for an ambush, quineg?

"Neg," Lanja replied.

"Then we need a diversion."

"A diversion?"

"Yes. Can you get us close enough to Glory Station to establish a commlink?"

"Of course. There is a rise in a clearing about ten kilometers from here. From there, I should be able to establish both voice and digital secure link with Cluster headquarters."

She waved Horse away, even though he was still working on her wounds. Her gesture indicated that was all the medication she would accept right now.

"All right, then," Aidan said. "We will go on foot. Horse, bring the Star as close to the Wolf lines as you can without leaving the swamp. Have one of the extra pilots from Joa

He turned to Lanja. "Let us go. And, Lanja, you will have to intervene for me. Because of this"—he pointed to his dark band—"Kael Pershaw does not have to talk to me. Even without this, he might not want to take advice from a freeborn."

Lanja thought that was true enough, but chose not to say it. She had a sense that Jorge might be the solution to what might otherwise be certain defeat.

17

Joa

She wondered if he had sabotaged the device. It would not be beyond his capabilities.

She took a deep breath. The air scrubbers were not working, and the smell of vomit hung in the air. Nomad's pain had become so intense that he had thrown up after completing the great effort of operating the 'Mech's foot. He had managed to clean up most of it, but the smell was taking its time. He had seen no point in trying to air out the cockpit. Not only were the air scrubbers down, but the air outside was even worse than this smell.

After sulking for a while, Nomad had fallen asleep again on the passenger seat. The sulking was because Joa

"It is your duty to rescue your commanding officer," she told him. "It is not some act of generosity that endows you with special qualities. You are still the same worthless sub-caster you always were. I will commend you properly in my report. That is all the gratitude that a Clansman deserves."

"Have it your way, Captain," he muttered.

"Look, Nomad, if it satisfies you to know, I am content that I will have more opportunity to serve the Clan. For that, I realize you are responsible. I respect those who perform their duty, so I respect you for doing it. Does that make you happier?"

"I'm not even sure I understood it."

She was glad that he slept now. His incessant footnoting of her every word was getting on her nerves. She had no idea where they were, could not use a single instrument of her control panel to find out, and had to—as the saying went—walk blind. They could use nothing in the swamp for a guiding mark. Every part of the place seemed to look almost exactly like every other part.

Something in the neurohelmet was giving her a headache. She shut her eyes and for a moment seemed to see a fully operational cockpit. She was knocked back to reality when the 'Mech stepped into a small pond, and she had to switch her concentration to navigating through water. The pain in her head grew even stronger when the 'Mech tripped over something and careened against a thick tree. She thought she sensed something rattling around in the compartment beneath the cockpit, but then decided it must be just her imagination or the malfunction in the neurohelmet.

Joa

She stopped the 'Mech and ate some rations she had stored away. She could not get much down, the cockpit odors not being conducive to a heavy appetite. Looking out the viewport, she saw she was facing a clump of tall trees, trees that seemed to stretch above the canopy. Their branches and leaves were in sporadic motion, as if animals were jumping from branch to branch, perhaps excited by the intruder in their midst. She had heard that some animals lived their entire lives in the upper areas of swamps, jungles, forests, never coming down to ground level. The ground must be a wondrous land, something few of their kind ever saw. For Clan warriors the I

She stopped thinking of Clan things when a head suddenly appeared, peering through leaves in one of the trees. Though she realized it was some kind of animal, it was like nothing she had seen before. The thing was monstrous, horny-headed, with a thick snout and sharp teeth that overhung its lower lips.

She hated looking at it so much that she aimed her left-arm PPC and shot it out of the tree. Watching it fall, Joa

She traveled on.

As she walked over a particularly malevolent-looking bunch of shrubs and creepers, her commlink suddenly, with a warning crackle, came back on. Though she immediately began to send out a vocal signal, she was surprised when a response came back within a minute. "I hear you, Star Captain Joa

"Where is Star Commander Jorge?" she demanded.

"He is ... he is not with his BattleMech and has left me in charge."

"You in charge!"

"Yes. Do you object?"

"You know I do. Four of your . . . your warriors are from my Trinary. You ca