Natural Selection

Suddenly his computer beeped, informing him of the reply to Conal's tightbeam. Phelan looked up and saw that Conal had stopped tracking him for the moment. The Man O'Warmissed a step, then two, and the weapons dipped half a meter toward the ground.

Phelan cut left with the Wolfhoundand closed the gap between the two machines. Continuing his circle, but drawing it tighter, the Wolfhoundslipped beyond the forward arc of the Man O'War'sweapons. Coming around into the slowly turning 'Mech's aft, Phelan dropped his crosshairs onto the OmniMech's broad back, then cut loose with everything.

The large laser mounted in the Wolfhound'sright arm used the green beam like a scalpel, ripping a huge hole in the armor over the other 'Mech's back. The three pulse lasers then poured scarlet needles of pulsed laser energy into the heart of the Man O 'War.The lasers shattered the gyro casings, spitting bits and pieces of them out through the gaping wound in the 'Mech's back.

Stabilizing the giant war machines was simply not possible without the gyros, even with the direct feed from Conal's neurohelmet. The Man O'Warlanded in a cloud of dust, its limbs smashing against the ground and disintegrating, leaving the downed 'Mech broken and helpless.

* * *

Nelson Geist realized that he had dropped the radio when he heard it shatter on the ground. He smiled, then leaned back against the desk, chiding himself for being so clumsy. He continued to stare at the black plastic and bright transistors, even though it was painful to have his head in that awkward position. He knew the pain would not last much longer and he told himself that staring at a broken radio was much better than having the last thing he ever saw be the Red Corsair.

41

Tharkad

Federated Commonwealth

25 October 3055

Victor Davion sat alone in the Archon's office and studied the slip of paper in his hands. So, this is what it comes down to.After months of exhaustive investigation, he had a list of four names. They were the four people who had purchased tickets to the Frederick Steiner Memorial Library dedication banquet but who had not attended nor given their tickets to someone else.

As far as Victor was concerned, the first name on the list was the only one that needed to be there. Ryan Steiner.Ryan had been a thorn in his father's side from the moment he had wedded Melissa Steiner. Ryan was heir to the ambitions of Alessandro Steiner, the man his grandmother had deposed and who had allowed Ryan to start his own career by betraying Frederick Steiner, another rival for power.

Ryan thrived in the swamp of politics, and Victor knew he hadto be the man behind the assassination. Ryan had married Morasha Kelswa, heir to the title of the Tamar Pact. Since their marriage he had become a tireless champion for the independence of the Tamar worlds. The fact that Tamar had been all but swallowed up by the Jade Falcons had done nothing to quiet him.

Ryan also controlled the Skye separatist movement that had almost set off a civil war fifteen years earlier. Steiner had provoked a revolt, then stepped in to smooth things over when Victor's father had sent troops to put down the rebellion. The little bloodshed that did occur was blamed on Hanse Davion. If not for Melissa's popularity with the Lyrans, the incident might have precipitated all-out civil war.

Ryan Steiner had the most to gain from my mother's death.Victor's nostrils flared as he thought about all that had happened since her death. If his sister Katherine had not pushed her role as a media darling to make peace between him and Ryan, their respective camps would no doubt already be on the brink of open conflict. Victor was certain that Ryan was behind the continuing campaign of whispers blaming him for his own mother's assassination.

He looked at the second name. Anastasius Focht, the Precentor Martial of ComStar, had purchased a ticket, but had not attended and had not assigned the local Precentor to attend in his stead. Though Victor had never met the man, Focht had been the one who directed the defeat of the Clans at Tukayyid. Melissa had also spoken highly of him. Still, old suspicions about ComStar died hard, and the lack of an apparent motive did not exonerate Focht—no one had ever been sure of the Precentor Martial's true motives and Victor suspected no one ever would.

The third name struck him as equally absurd: Katherine Steiner-Davion. He tried to reconcile his view of his sister with that of a ruthless conspirator arranging the cold-blooded murder of their mother. If she were Romano Liao's daughter, perhaps, but Katherine? Never.No matter that he knew she could never be part of an assassination plot against mother, his sister's presence on the list chilled him. Since when did Katherine miss a party?

The last name deepened the cold sucking at his marrow. Victor Ian Steiner-Davion. I was supposed to have been there. I would have been seated within the blast radius.Victor tasted sour bile in his mouth.

He knew how his name had ended up on the list. The banquet had been a charity event. An invitation had been transmitted as a matter of course and he had purchased tickets without a second thought. The invitation had come through in a whole stack of papers that he'd signed before leaving Port Moseby for Arc-Royal. The Secretariat had found the sheet and had verified his fingerprints and signature and even Galen's prints on it.

Victor had the advantage of knowing he had not murdered his mother, but he also knew others were seeing it differently. His absence condemned him. Had he attended the banquet, he too would have died. Because he was still alive, he had inherited the throne of the Federated Commonwealth instead. If it weren't bad enough that he profited from his mother's death, people pointed out that he hadn't even attended her funeral.

The Prince sat back in his chair. If I had died, Katherine would now be in my place and Ryan Steiner would be that much closer to taking over the Commonwealth. Did he think I would be at the banquet? Had he hoped to get me, too and Katherine as well?

His mouth went dry. Or did Katherine expect me to die with our mother?

Victor crumpled the paper and tossed it on the desk. My father would have arrested Ryan in an instant, and the Secretariat would have broken him. Justin Allard would have arranged an insidious intelligence operation to ferret out the truth. My mother?Victor smiled as he remembered her. Smooth as silk but hard as steel. She would have managed to squeeze Ryan economically and politically until his power base evaporated. She would have charmed his allies away from him and left him isolated and alone.

The Prince stood and leaned on his desk. But this isn't about how any of them would have handled it. They are dead and I must do it on my own. What do I truly know? What do I have to work with? How will Victor Davion handle this problem?

He smoothed the paper out again, picked up a pen, and drew a line through his own name. "I knowone person on this list is i

Victor hit the intercom button on his commlink console. "Please find Galen Cox and Mr. Curaitis and have them report to me immediately."

The five minutes it took for the pair to make their way to his office was enough for Victor to finalize his plan. This is how Victor Davion handles the problem.

Galen Cox handed Victor a yellow slip of paper. "Picked this up on my way in here. Thought you'd want to see it."