D. R. T. Read online

  "Here's how it works. We negotiate the supplemental contract with the local mercenary command. Although this one will not be sanctioned by the Mercenary Review and Bonding Commission, the Kuritas are trying to improve their reputation among mercs and will probably try to be as fair as possible. Of course, it will still be up to us to make sure we don't get the short end of any stick they hand us.

  "And while we're on the supplemental contract—which might be anything from a raid to a recon—we're still considered to be serving the garrison contract. We don't receive double pay, but we'll be credited for the time. Now for the good part.

  "Once we finish the supplemental contract, we're free to negotiate another and another. We don't have to go back to Outreach to work the deal. All funds and equipment will be processed from Wolcott, and once we serve the initial twelve months, we're not required to extend the garrison contract. We can simply negotiate supplemental contracts or leave, as we decide."

  "There's got to be a catch," said Esmeralda.

  "Of course," said Rose. "There are hundreds of ways we can end up losers on a job like this, but there's also incredible potential. If we're successful, we have a guaranteed string of contracts. So, what we've got to do is make sure we maximize the upside and cover our backs. That's going to take a lot of hard work on the trip to Luthien and more once we hit Wolcott."

  Rose pressed his hands into the small of his back, which ached a little. Despite the lack of gravity, his back was slightly sore from the stress of the meeting. "Questions?" He let his gaze travel over each member of the Thorns and waited until he got a nod of the head before continuing. McCloud winked at him from her position in the back of the room, which nobody but Rose could see.

  "That's it, then. I'll have duty assignments in twelve hours, people. You might want to get some rest between now and then, because sleep will be a precious commodity from that point on."

  6

  Nadir Jump Point, Luthien

  Draconis Combine

  16 February 3057

  As expected, and quietly dreaded, the trip to Luthien was uneventful.

  Per their contract, Rose and the rest of the Black Thorns were quartered aboard McCloud's DropShip as the JumpShip went from jump station to jump station in their voyage across the stars to Wolcott. The contract also prohibited them from talking with anyone outside the unit or the DropShip crew, which worried Rose even though he knew it was a necessary precaution, given their final posting. It was hardly a secret to the Clans that the Kuritas would be sending additional troops and supplies, but there was little need to broadcast exactly who they were. Rose trusted his unit to keep their destination a secret, but Priam wasn't convinced that trust was enough. As a result, the Black Thorns' only contract was with the DropShip crew and each other.

  Priam had insisted on making all the arrangements for the contingent leaving from Outreach. In fact, the details were handled so quickly and efficiently that Ria began to wonder if she smelled a trap, but conversations with Priam eased her fears. The DropShip they'd be traveling on was a commercial vessel rather than on full-time assignment to the military. Normally, that would have meant several delays while the ship stopped to take on cargo or deliver supplies during the run; however, Priam, like Rose, had booked the entire DropShip for the trip to Luthien. From what Ria could see, the new recruits handled the journey even better than the vets because they had so much more to do. Not only did they have to learn about their new home among the Black Thorns, but most of them didn't even know each other.

  When the Bristol arrived in the Luthien system, even McCloud, who had worked a number of busy jump points, was surprised to encounter all the activity and the increased security around the jump station. Luthien had survived one attack by the Clans, and the Kuritas were not about to chance their capital to half-measures. Hovering all around the jump point were armored DropShips just waiting to pounce on any arriving starship that did not instantly transmit the proper clearance codes.

  The JumpShip's station-keeping thrusters jockeyed the starship into alignment with the system's sun as a pair of aerospace fighters swept past the Bristol's viewports. Within an hour of their arrival, McCloud had freed the Bristol from the docking arms that attached the DropShip to the JumpShip during space travel. Here in deep space, McCloud used attitude thrusters that normally served to control the ship's descent during planetary landings to get the minimum thrust necessary to push the Bristol toward the nadir jump station.

  Rose and several other Black Thorns watched the station loom longer and larger via the external camera-feed from the mess room. This station was one of the few surviving of its kind, housing a full complement of workers, scientists, and soldiers. The station could completely recharge a JumpShip's lithium battery in less than twenty-four hours instead of the fourteen days usually required.

  All JumpShips were, of course, able to recharge their own batteries by deploying a solar sail. The sail collected solar energy and stored it in the ship's batteries for use during the jump from one star system to another. A jump through hyperspace was instantaneous, but it took most JumpShips a day or longer to deploy the solar sail. Once the sail was deployed, a JumpShip could recharge its batteries in ten to fourteen days, depending on the quality of the sail, the recharging system, the batteries themselves, and the sun providing the charge. When the batteries were full, the delicate sail had to be retracted again because it would never survive a jump unless folded away. It was all the recharging time that could make faster-than-light travel not very fast.

  Space stations like the one at Luthien's nadir jump point were designed to provide a quick recharge to military vessels. Essentially a huge solar collector, the station drew continuous power from the system's sun and passed it to JumpShips as required. This station had been attacked several times over the course of the three hundred years known as the Succession Wars, but it had never fallen.

  While other stations in the Inner Sphere were being destroyed or failing because of a lack of replacement parts, the Luthien station had become more and more important to the Draconis Combine, Aerospace fighters protected it in space, and elite Kurita infantry prowled the station's decks and outer hull, ever alert for saboteurs or attackers. From a distance the station was as glorious a construction as Rose had ever seen. As the distance diminished, however, the history of the station and the hard existence it had suffered were easy to see.

  As the Black Thorns watched the station grow near, they felt the ship's gravity began to decrease. For most MechWarriors, that was one of the hardest things about space flight. The lack of gravity made everything difficult, especially for people not used to the condition. When the ship was under thrust, the acceleration provided gravity in varying degrees, depending on the thrust. But once the Bristol's thrust was reduced, the apparent gravity decreased. Rose scanned the room for any cups still filled with liquid that could go flying, but the Thorns had all finished their beverages.

  Gravity disappeared and Rose felt himself drift up. "Prepare to come about," came McCloud's voice over the address system. Rose swallowed and began helping the other Thorns adjust the equipment of the room.

  Spherical DropShips like the Bristol posed several problems for the crew and passengers, and docking with the space station was the single problem Rose hated the most. The DropShip flew nose-first and would set down with the engines nearest the landing surface, which made perfect sense to him. The DropShip's docking collar, however, was near the engines. On a station with gravity, and therefore rotation, like the Luthien station, that meant the ship had to land tail-first. The spin of the station turned the entire ship upside down. That didn't matter to the ship—there not being much difference between the ceiling and the floor—but those inside had to adjust to their entire world being flip-flopped. Of course, the spacers could adapt without so much as the blink of an eye, but Rose knew even a brief stay at the station would be disorienting for most of his unit. The good thing was that the unit's BattleMechs were alread
y stored safely away and locked down, having been loaded with this stop in mind.

  Rose and the Thorns watched as the slowly spinning station grew to fill the entire screen. McCloud, meanwhile, was matching the movement of the DropShip with the spin of the station like a child chasing a merry-go-round. The docking collar slowly loomed into view and stabilized on the screen, but it was hard to detect any motion until the Bristol's big docking collar nudged the side of the station. The Bristol was still faintly ringing from the impact when McCloud began broadcasting over the ship's address system.

  "Bristol docked at Luthien nadir station. We're on downtime for the next few hours while the locals perform security checks. Senior staff is requested in the station briefing room at oh-seven-hundred for an initial debriefing on our mission and the trip to Wolcott.

  "Rose, that means you, me, and one other person. All other personnel restricted to the Bristol until further notice.

  "Riannon's ship is scheduled to arrive in fourteen hours. They'll be docked alongside us in Bay Rhoku. That's all for now and thanks for flying McCloud, the friendliest DropShip in the business."

  Rose and the other Thorns grinned at the speaker and began to drift toward their duties. Arrival at any new destination meant there was work to be done, and none of the Thorns needed to be told what to do. Rose was still smiling when he met McCloud at the docking-bay doors three hours later.

  "Just us?" McCloud asked when Rose appeared without an escort. He nodded while adjusting the collar of his dress uniform and shaking out his sleeves so they would hang smartly.

  "I thought about asking Antioch to come, but he's getting the bays ready for Ria and company. Esmeralda and Ajax ..." Rose paused, searching for words. "I don't know. They just didn't seem appropriate somehow." McCloud stepped closer and pulled down the front of Rose's jacket, straightening out the few wrinkles that remained. "No reflection on them, of course. I just thought we'd handle this together."

  "Together. That's not a word I've heard in a while." McCloud stepped back and looked at Rose, smiling in approval.

  "You're telling me? Antioch isn't bad as a roommate, but I much prefer the arrangement we had back on Borghese." Rose stepped toward McCloud, but she skipped out of reach.

  "Don't blame me, big boy," she laughed. "Separate quarters were your idea, not mine. Besides, it's not like we've been complete strangers during the trip."

  Rose shrugged. "I just thought it would be a good idea to keep the lines of command separate while we're on your ship."

  McCloud raised a hand to stop a conversation she'd heard too many times before. "I know. I'm not asking for an explanation." She reached out and hit the airlock stud, sending the inner door up. "It made perfect sense at the time and I still agree with the reasons."

  McCloud climbed up the ladder to the access hatch of the airlock and hit the stud on the other side. The inner door began closing as Rose climbed through. He wanted to say something, but he wasn't sure what it should be. Their on-again, off-again relationship had flourished following the Jade Falcons' rout off Borghese because Ria had virtually taken over the unit so Rose and McCloud could be together while she was recuperating. Once Rachel was out of the hospital, Rose had been all the more determined to stay with her. He continued to spend most of his precious free time with her, yet still felt he didn't know where the relationship was heading.

  "Do you think I'm under-dressed?" McCloud's question brought Rose out of his reverie.

  "Under-dressed? No, I don't think so." Unlike Rose, Rachel McCloud had no formal dress uniform. She normally wore spacer coveralls or very casual attire. Rose smiled to himself, thinking that the formal wear she did own would have raised every eye on the station, as well as the blood pressure of all the males.

  "They're spacers themselves. They'll probably think I'm over-dressed."

  Once the airlock finished its cycle, the station door opened to a view of a bare white ceiling. Climbing up to it, Rose and McCloud came face to face with two armored soldiers standing at attention; between them stood a small man in a nondescript brown uniform.

  "Greetings, Captains Rose and McCloud. I am Uroshi. I will be your guide while you are on the Luthien nadir station. If you will please follow me, I will escort you to your meeting." With a nod the small man started down the hall, leaving the two guards and his charges to follow. Rose and McCloud looked at each other briefly, then set out after their guide, catching up with him in several strides.

  "The station has no internal markings for direction," Uroshi began without preamble. "This is, unfortunately, a necessary safeguard in the event of an attack. As a guide, I have the honor of being one of the few individuals who actually knows my way around the entire station."

  "What about those guards? How do they get around?" asked McCloud.

  Uroshi smiled. 'They know only their duty." Evidently that was answer enough. McCloud waited for more, but the small man continued on his way, passing door after nameless door, turning down corridors and passing through more idendeal junctions. Rose barely paid attention to where his feet were going, his mind was still partly on his brief conversation with Rachel. It had started him thinking about his future, especially his future with her.

  His mind was still wandering when Uroshi suddenly stopped before one of the many nameless doors and reached for the handle to open it. Stepping aside, their guide let McCloud and Rose pass into the room, then closed the door behind them. Rose was not surprised that Uroshi didn't follow them in; he was only their guide.

  The rectangular room was dominated by a plasteel table with several built-in chairs. Although the entire station was under near-normal gravity, the arrangement made it clear that the absence of gravity would not affect the room. Standing near the head of the table were two men in DCMS uniforms. From their insignia Rose knew each was a chu-sa, roughly equivalent to a light colonel in the Davion system. Great, he thought. Outranked again. With a serene smile, he bowed in formal greeting. McCloud followed his lead, but he knew she was winging it.

  Each chu-sa bowed in return, neither as low as Rose, but Rose detected a measure of respect in their actions. "Greetings," said the one on the left, slowly smiling. "Your journey was pleasant, I trust." He indicated a seat near the head of the table.

  Rose returned his smile. "I was in the hands of an excellent captain," he said, indicating McCloud with a wave of his hand. "Traveling with one of such ability is always pleasant" McCloud nodded at the compliment, but still said nothing. Following Rose, she sat next to him, across from the seats selected by the Kurita officers.

  "I am Chu-sa Langley," said the one who'd spoken when they entered. "This is Chu-sa Vaynes. We have been assigned to coordinate your run to Wolcott." Warning lights went off in Rose's head, but he kept his face calm. Kurita colonels did not coordinate JumpShip travel, even to planets behind enemy lines. "As you have been recommended by Priam, I doubt there will be any problems in this situation. His recommendation carries significant weight and your reputation precedes you." Rose waited expectantiy. There's a problem here, he thought, and I'm about to have it handed to me.

  "You are familiar with the situation on Wolcott?" When Rose nodded, Langley went on smoothly, "The Smoke Jaguars hold both jump points, which means the approach to Wolcott can only occur at so-called pirate points. You are, of course, familiar with the term." Again Rose nodded.

  Most hyperspace jumps occurred either well above or well below the orbital plane of the solar system, at either the nadir or the zenith of the system. The locations of a system's two "official" jump points were precisely fixed, again depending on the size of the sun. Pirate points were something else altogether.

  Based on a complicated mathematical model of the solar system in question, pirate jump points could be anywhere in the system, depending on the current location of the different planets. Even at the best of times, these locations were not safe. The gravity of nearby planets could make even a slight error fatal. On Borghese, Clan supporters had used pirate point
s to leave the system and return with the Jade Falcon invaders.

  "Due to the strong Smoke Jaguar presence, you will arrive at Wolcott at a pirate point." Rose understood the necessity, but that didn't mean, he liked the idea. He'd never used one and doubted McCloud had either. "We've been using pirate points ever since the Clan invasion came this way. Timing and flawless performance of the jump and run to the planet are critical to the initial success of your mission."

  "You mean we'll have to fight our way onto Wolcott," said Rose.

  Langley nodded slowly. "As I said, we've been doing this for several months, but there are still risks involved. A specific pirate point only exists for a short period of time. Once that window is closed, the next point could be halfway across the system or further out in space."

  Rose frowned and glanced at McCloud, who quickly jumped in to explain. "In layman's terms," she said, "a pirate point is defined by time as well as space. We're concerned about the point that opens up between Luthien and Wolcott at a specific point in time. Once that time is up, another point will open up, but in a completely different location."

  "You can see the problem," continued Langley. "The Jaguars know we're coming, but the area of space is too big for them to patrol, and even they don't have the technology to detect incoming JumpShips. Still, the JumpShip is at considerable risk while in the system. The captain has to determine his exact arrival point in the system and compute a second jump out before he is discovered.

  "That normally takes a matter of hours. During the compute time, the DropShips head away. Each makes for the planet by a different route, complete with course changes. That way, if a DropShip is discovered, the JumpShip cannot be directly traced. Outbound DropShips follow the same procedure back to the mother ship. Once the new ships are docked with the JumpShip, they make the jump out."

  "Totally depleting their batteries," said Rose. "That's right," said Langley. Both men silently acknowledged the danger of such an undertaking. If the ship should misjump, the entire vessel would be lost. "Pretty high risk," commented Rose. "Pretty high stakes, Captain Rose," said Langley. "That's why we've got all the security for inbound units. That's also why we've got two of the finest logistical experts in Kurita space working on two of the fastest computers in the Inner Sphere keeping up with the logistical demands of Wolcott." Rose could easily imagine the associated problems. He and Riannon had enough trouble just keeping the Black Thorns in supplies and equipment.