Natural Selection

Victor read the brief message that had been sent Alpha Priority through ComStar. "Red Corsair is dead. Full report to follow. Dan Allard."

The Prince smiled. "This is excellent news, and ties in with what I wanted to tell you, Galen."

"Sir?"

"Pack your bags, you're going to Arc-Royal." Victor kept the smile on his face. "I want you to represent me there with Katherine when the Kell Hounds bury their dead. I also want you to keep an eye on my sister for me." He saw Galen's expression begin to darken, but waved away any misgivings his friend might have. "Don't spy on her, Galen. Just make sure Ryan and his people don't try with her what they did with Ragnar. Consider it a vacation and your chance to get linked with my sister in the scandal vids."

"A vacation? I guess I can handle that sort of temporary duty." The blond officer did not even try to hide his pleasure at being asked to accompany Katherine. "Thank you, Victor."

"You've earned it, my friend." Victor waved him out of the office. "Go pack. You'll have to leave immediately to reach Arc-Royal by the time the Hounds return."

Galen saluted, Victor returned it, then the man left the office.

Curaitis's eyes sharpened. "What didn't you want him to hear?"

The Prince nodded. "I hope you are even better than your remark suggests you are."

"I am."

"Good. The assassin has survived his fat embolis?"

The security man nodded. "He will be fit enough to hang, though it is a waste of rope."

"Waste not, want not." Victor folded his arms across his chest. "I want him taken to the old leprosarium on Poulsbo. I want him kept up to speed on anything and everything that would enhance his performance as an assassin. Give him nothing that truly works, but let him log all the computer simulation time he wants."

Curaitis nodded stiffly. "It is a dangerous game you are playing. If word were to get out that you were 'keeping' the assassin who killed your mother. . . "

"That's why you are acting as my agent in this, Curaitis. I do not expect word of his existence to get out. Period." Victor took a deep breath, then exhaled it slowly. "Someone else defined the rules of this game and I'm just learning them. Once I've mastered them, I will be ready to destroy my enemies. And when that day comes, it will be my distinct pleasure to use their best weapon against them."

42

Elissa

Wolf Clan Occupation Zone

26 October 3055

Phelan Kell rubbed at his eyes. The insides of his eyelids felt like they were coated in sandpaper, but that was to be expected after hours of staring at a computer screen. Still clad as he had been in the cockpit of his Wolfhound,he had left the battlefield and immediately taken command of the Red Corsair's office. What he had pla

He looked up from the desk as someone knocked at the door. "Enter."

Two Elementals in gray jumpsuits and bearing side-arms led Conal Ward into the spacious office. They hustled him along, dragging him when the chain hobbling his feet kept him from matching their stride. Holding him upright on the white marble floor, they let him get his feet under himself.

Then the Elementals took a step back, but stood ready to restrain the prisoner. Phelan gave them a smile, then held out his right hand. "Please give me the key to his shackles. You may leave. We do not want to be disturbed." One of the Elementals hesitated and the Khan added, "We will not have trouble, will we, Conal?"

The prisoner shook his head.

The Elementals complied with Phelan's order and withdrew. As the door clicked shut, Conal's head came up. "Figured it all out, did you?"

Phelan's fist tightened on the key, then he flipped it to Conal. "These documents leave little to the imagination. I would not have believed you hated me so much."

"Do not flatter yourself." Conal freed his legs and started working on his manacles. "Yes, I hate you, but even more I hate the way you Wardens have crippled the Clans. We live for war and we are the ultimate army. Ulric and Natasha and others like them have stripped us of our true nature."

"I would not have thought treason was part of a Clansman's true nature." Phelan rested his left hand on the computer console. "I have read how the atomic mine was to be used to destroy this base and leave no clue if the Red Corsair's mission failed. You could have set it and been clear long before we arrived."

The Khan shook his head. "I wondered why you didn't press me when we fought. You should have ripped me to pieces, but you were looking beyond that immediate pleasure to a greater revenge. No one from outside the Clans would believe you were willing to die in a nuclear blast just to get at me and the Wolf Clan. But then they would not understand how the Clans work. They don't know their history."

Conal sneered at him. "And you do?"

"I know enough to realize that your plan would have cost more lives than all the other wars mankind has known. You would have destroyed all the Wolves, you know, not just the Wardens." Phelan shivered. "The last Clan that dared use atomics was utterly destroyed. They were hunted down—men, women, and children—and all slain. The Clans barely even acknowledge that they ever existed, and their crime ..."

Conal shook his head. "The Wolverines used a nuclear blast to destroy a genetic repository. They deserved to die. Here things would have been different. Many of my people would have survived and the conclusion they would have drawn was that a nuclear weapon brought in by the Kell Hounds detonated prematurely. You would have been blamed, and Ulric along with you. The Wolf Clan would have been destroyed just like the Wolverines, but our bloodlines—good Crusaderbloodlines—would have passed into other Clans."

Conal laughed in the face of Phelan's horror. "Yes, I would have died in the blast along with you, but I would have died a hero because I opposed you. My genetic material would have contributed to legions of sibkos, and battles would have been waged for its possession."

"You are a monster!" Phelan stood and ripped open a desk drawer. He pulled out a black grease pencil and tossed it to Conal. "Use it. Draw a circle. I will give you the honor of dying in a Circle of Equals."

Conal batted the pencil out of the air and defiantly rested his fists on his hips. "I may be a monster, but I am not a stupid one. You are my Khan. You have a duty to me and the Clans. As is my right, I demand a trial before the Grand Council."

Conal's request took Phelan's breath away. "What?" he whispered hoarsely.

The elder Clansman smiled triumphantly. "You heard me correctly, Khan Phelan. I demand a trial before the Grand Council. I want my fate decided before a Council of all the Khans."

"You areinsane, no doubt about it." Phelan shook his head, hoping to banish the start of the headache pulsing out pain at his temples. "Were Iyou, I would have no desire to see my treason paraded before the Khans."

"But you are not me, and you do not have my understanding of Clan politics." Conal's smug expression made Phelan's heart begin to sink. "What you have determined about the nuclear mine and our fight is just supposition. You have no proof."