Main Event

The Council adjourned in the late afternoon to give the new members a chance to bring themselves up to date on the current facts. Cooke had no illusions that both junior members were fully aware of the facts, but couldn't do much about it. Though he was still the chairman, the Council decided most issues by a simple majority. Cooke enjoyed a favored status and could sometimes bend the Council decisions to his will. With Crenshaw on the watch, even that would be hard to do now.

As the members filed out of the domed meeting room, Cooke gave Crenshaw his best I'd-like-to-see-you-dead look, but the old man just smiled. He tried the same stare on Washington, but with similar results. Cooke figured Washington was just stupid and unaware. Crenshaw was obviously neither.

* * *

Rose got the news as he was preparing for McCloud's good-bye di

Rachel McCloud arrived promptly at seven. For unknown reasons, Antioch Bell had insisted on driving her to the compound. The ever-present protesters had been much more active of late, but Bell managed to get through them with a minimum of hassle. Rose knew that the di

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Ajax was the first to move, heading for the door even before Rose had put the handset back in place. Rose followed quickly, giving orders as he went.

"Stand to, Thorns, we've got a problem at the spaceport." The rest of the team crowded toward the door as Ajax raced for his 'Mech. Because they were operating on yellow alert, everyone was wearing combat gear or else had their equipment within easy reach. Rachel remained seated, her face calm.

"What's going on, Jeremiah?"

The rest of the mercenaries were filing out the door, some ru

"Terrorists are attacking the spaceport. It looks like the object of the raid is the Bristol .Your crew is trying to hold them off, but it doesn't look good."

Rose expected anger and frustration, but he barely managed to duck as McCloud threw a heavy glass at him from across the room.

"You son of a bitch. You're supposed to protect them." Without waiting for a reply, she charged around the table. Rose dropped into a crouch and prepared to meet the charge, but it never came. As McCloud neared the front door, it suddenly swung open. Ru

Hawg, his shoulder still braced against the door, looked at Rose and tried to smile. "It seemed like the only thing to do at the time." The big man peered around the edge of the door as Rose stepped over to the fallen McCloud, who was gasping for breath, her left eye begi

"Sir, now would be the time to get out of here. Unless you think she'll run into the door again when she gets up."

Rose looked up at Hawg and then back to McCloud.

Torn by indecision, he pointed to the cook. "Get a couple of guards in here. Make sure she doesn't leave until we get back."

McCloud was struggling to rise, her remaining good eye focused on Rose's throat. "Sit on her if you have to," Rose said, "but don't let her leave."

With that, he was out the door, Hawg close on his heels. By the time Rose reached the cockpit of the Charger,Ajax's Ravenwas already moving toward the main gate. Angus soon followed and the rest of the company closed behind the recon 'Mechs. Ru

Ajax and Angus led the way, with the rest of the Thorns close behind. Soon Ajax had outdistanced the rest, and Rose decided not to call him back. It was unlikely that the Capellan would meet any resistance until he got to the spaceport and his timely arrival might be fortuitous.

By the time the rest of the Thorns arrived, Ajax had swept the Bristol with his powerful short-range sca

The terrorists had evidently gained access to the ship by posing as maintenance workers. Rose could see their damaged cargo-lifter parked under the closed door of Bay Number Three. Two bodies lay near the lifter, but in the darkness it was impossible to identify them as friend or foe.

Rose's Chargerpulled up next to the Raven,which was sheltered from the DropShip's guns by an intervening supply building.

"What's the situation, Ajax?" Rose tried to peer over the supply building, but could see only the top half of the Bristol .

"They were just sealing the bays as I got here. Looks like the crew managed to hold them off for a while, but not long enough. I capped the two by the lifter, but the rest got inside."

As Rose listened, the top gun of the DropShip swung their way. The gun lowered, but stopped well above the top of the Charger'shead. Because the Bristol was basically a sphere, the placement of its guns had posed a design problem. The designers had finally decided to devote most of the protection to the top half of the sphere, as that was the side most often engaged in combat. On the ground, these top-mounted weapons gave the UnionClass DropShip good defense against aerial attacks. For defense against ground forces, the ship depended on the 'Mechs it normally carried to keep enemies away. Right now the Thorns were positioned under the Bristol 'smajor weapons, and would have to face only the lower set of lasers if they decided to rush the DropShip.

Rose considered his two options. Either he could order his unit to rush the ship, damaging it enough to prevent takeoff or they could sit and watch it get away. In either case the Bristol would be lost to McCloud. On one hand she'd never be able to afford the repair costs for such damage; on the other, the hijackers were unlikely to return the ship when finished with it. It didn't take long to decide.

"This is Commander One. Rush the DropShip. Concentrate fire on the closest support stanchion. If we break one of the legs, they might decide not to attempt liftoff."

Even as Rose spoke, a sudden red glow appeared under the Bristol .Smoke billowed out from beneath the massive craft as a dull roar deafened the mercenaries.

"Ajax, I thought you said they'd just closed the hatches!" If that was true, Rose should have had ten to fifteen minutes to attack the ship before the hijackers could possibly start up the engines and attempt liftoff. In that amount of time he could have broken all four DropShip legs. Instead, the ship was now in the final stages of liftoff.