LE5739 - Falcon Rising, page 8
"Give it up, Khan Zalman," Marthe said finally. "You make a fool of yourself."
Zalman spread his arms. "Fool? Look around you, Khan Marthe, at our fellow Khans." The other Khans, with only a few exceptions, escalated their agreement with Zalman through loud protests and angry gestures. Marthe held up her hand and the response diminished.
"Khan Zalman," she said, "you have spoken well, for a Viper. This council is certainly a forum for the airing of opinions, no matter how clouded logically they may be. The Jade Falcons share your views on trueborn superiority. What we cannot abide is your demeaning of a Jade Falcon hero. Aidan Pryde's achievements, worthy of a long passage in our Remembrance, are actions to be admired not only within our Clan, but among all Clans."
The hubbub in the chamber was dying down, Zalman noted. Her words were having their desired effect. He was losing his advantage. He had to jump in and destroy her.
"It is not surprising, Khan Marthe, that you cannot see the deterioration of your own Clan's genetic strains. Further, it is possible you do not see the harm you do your own Clan by elevation of freebirths to power within the Clan or your willingness to deny a trueborn a bloodname so that a freeborn might win it. And it is clear that in your own Clan mythology you have obscured the fact that the greatest of your own heroes was himself an aberration, an abomination, who was indeed something of a sham hero in his—"
Zalman did not have to go on. Even as he was speaking, Marthe had started to descend from her tier down toward the Steel Viper place in the council. He tensed.
"You vile stravag!" Marthe shouted. "Your lies foul the air! Your accusations are the lowest use of politics I have heard in this chamber. It is you, Perigard Zalman, who is the filthy freebirth, and I challenge you to a Trial!"
Marthe's eruption shocked everyone. No one expected it from her, not the cool, reserved Marthe Pryde. Zalman wondered if Natalie Breen, no doubt monitoring the council meeting in her dark room, was nodding her head at the success of the strategy the two of them had concocted.
"I accept your challenge, Khan Marthe," he said calmly.
Loremaster Kael Pershaw yelled for the two Khans to stop. They both looked toward him. He had raised both of his arms. Zalman could not remember which arm was the prosthetic one.
"The ilKhan will speak," Pershaw said.
* * *
As she returned to her place, Marthe began to curse herself for being maneuvered into a challenge.
But I could not allow him to go any further. In a way, the challenge was his. It was just that he needed me to break. Well, I set my self up, quiaff? I knew I would get griping and grumbling in council, but I did not expect that the Vipers would take it this far. Especially the Vipers. They want something more. Either to destroy me or to make a move against the Jade Falcons as a whole. I must tread carefully from here on. The Steel Vipers cannot win this. I will destroy them before that can happen.
The ilKhan glanced around the room before speaking. The Khans understood his fierce look well and they became silent.
"I regard the Jade Falcon Khan's challenge as legitimate, as well as judge the words of the Steel Viper Khan that provoked it to be worthy of Grand Council consideration. However, it should be clear to all present that two Khans may not enter the field of battle, no matter how justified their desire for honor. It is fine that, as Khans, we do not forget our origins as warriors."
Many of the Khans muttered agreement, though Vlad Ward did not speak or show more than cynical interest in the proceedings.
"As you know, we discourage combat between Khans, a rule I endorse, especially since the last time it occurred."
Several of the onlookers briefly switched their attention to Vlad, who had not only beaten ilKhan Elias Crichell in a Trial, but had fought him to the death. Vlad glanced smugly around the room.
"It is enough," Osis continued, "that we are free to disagree so vehemently within this chamber. I would not like seeing Khans kill each other off. We represent the strength of the Clans, all the Clans.
"I also do not approve the use of a Trial to settle this particular matter. Although its theoretical implications are profound, especially in the matter of freeborn warriors competing for bloodnames, I say that a fight between representatives of the disputing parties will satisfy this challenge. An honor duel between two BattleMechs, if the esteemed Khans agree, quiaff?"
Both Marthe Pryde and Perigard Zalman signified their consent.
"Good," Osis said. "As is traditional, each Khan must select a warrior to represent his or her Clan in this honor duel. Loremaster, conduct the proper ceremony."
Kael Pershaw gave both Khans the chance to invoke surkai, the Clan rite of forgiveness that allowed the accused party to admit wrongdoing and accept the consequences, in this case consequences prescribed by the Grand Council. Each Khan was given the option of invoking surkai, since in the dispute each had offended the other. Marthe wondered if the wily head of the Watch was hinting that the two Khans would be allowed to agree to back down. However, Zalman's rejection of the offer was just as vehement as Marthe's.
The Loremaster allowed Marthe to repeat her challenge in formal language and state the reasons for it. Perigard Zalman was then allowed to present his side. He gave in cool summary what he had earlier spoken so emotionally.
"In olden days," Pershaw said, "it was common to call a warrior who represented his leader a champion. For this situation I choose to revive the term. As challenged party, Khan Perigard Zalman, you may name your champion first."
"I will disappoint many fine warriors who, I am certain, would be eager to do battle with any Jade Falcon. I choose, however, Star Colonel Ivan Sinclair, the grand hero of the Trial of Possession with the Jade Falcons for the right to invade Twycross during the invasion. The Star Colonel was even more a hero in the taking of Schreuder Heights, the deciding battle that forced the Ninth Federated Commonwealth RCT to flee Twycross in utter defeat."
Zalman's allies in the chamber nodded approvingly at this choice. It was clear that they relished his shrewdness in sending out as his champion an heroic warrior who had already bested Jade Falcons in a conflict. Zalman noted with satisfaction that Marthe's lips grew tighter, the only indication that she was impressed by his choice.
"As challenger, Khan Marthe Pryde, you may now name your champion."
"Well, of course it is difficult to choose a champion from such an abundance of valiant Jade Falcon warriors, but I note that Khan Zalman has chosen a warrior who is peculiarly appropriate to the situation. I should do the same. Since the issue is the worth of the freeborn warrior, I nominate one of the Jade Falcon's toughest and most heroic warriors, a warrior whose tenacity and skill have won him acclaim within the Clan. I choose Star Captain Horse of Trinary—"
The uproar Marthe expected was even more violent than she had anticipated.
It is probably good that Samantha Clees is not here. She might be right up there with the protesters. For that matter, many Jade Falcon warriors will be against me on this one. It is a risk, but one I want to take. Horse is a fine warrior, freeborn or not. He will make the point that has to be made.
As she waited for the deafening noise to subside, Marthe continued to stare at Perigard Zalman. The puzzlement in his eyes pleased her. In the chess game that he had started, she had him currently in check. Now, the game only awaited Horse's checkmate.
She sensed a presence behind her. Turning her head she saw that Vlad had walked over to her, a strange smile on his face.
"Congratulations," he said, "you have just become the most hated Khan of all the Khans."
"Horse will win."
"In that case, you will be the most hated warrior of all warriors."
"Would that fit into your political agenda, Vlad?"
Vlad winced slightly, as he did when one of her barbs got too close. She suspected he always liked to think that he had the upper hand in all matters, even in his relationship with her.
"Allowing me a political agenda is giving me too much credit, Marthe. If I had one, hating you would not be part of it. I support you in this. You have a way of doing the right thing and, for the moment, I think humiliation of the Steel Vipers could be useful for both of us."
Marthe shrugged and returned to her place, leaving Vlad standing there, smiling his usual enigmatic smile.
9
Holovid Arena
Warrior Sector, Ironhold City
Ironhold
Kerensky Cluster, Clan Space
2 February 3060
Sometimes a holovid recording of BattleMech combat was so frustrating that Diana wanted to reach over the low border of the holovid display table and, the way she did in her occasional chess games with Horse when she was losing, rearrange all the figures in the way she would have them had she been doing the fighting.
But I guess you can't change history like you can move chessmen, she thought. On this table is the depiction of my father's last bloodname battle, recorded with all its flaws. I would have liked him to perform different maneuvers, attack in a different way, be more heroic. He was a hero, after all. The great hero Aidan Pryde. Let's run it again.
She reactivated the holovid program and watched again the miniature ships arrive at Rhea, the Ironhold moon. At first the field of the table seemed to have infinite depth with the spinning moon at its center, the planet beyond it, and the sun and stars beyond the planet. The DropShip came into view from behind the moon, and from it the two Battle-Mechs dropped in an arc that seemed too slow but, given the accuracy of the recording chips, was probably played off in real-time. Aidan had been in a Summoner, and the opponent—named Megasa—in a Mad Dog. Each 'Mech landed in an area of Rhea sufficiently far apart to keep their pilots from view of each other.
Touching the controls that let her choose which vantage points and aspects of the battle she wanted to see, Diana shifted the landscape to view where the holographic Aidan, whose miniaturized reproduction could sometimes be seen in a cutaway version of the 'Mech, if the player so wished, waited in his Summoner. In real-time each had been given an hour to acclimate to Rhea's gravity, but a running strip to one side of the scene noted that the wait was being skipped. There was a sudden adjustment and Aidan's BattleMech seemed to disappear from one place and reappear quickly a short distance away. He must have moved to that point in real-time.
What did Joanna say? Something about Aidan Pryde never having fought in a low-gravity environment before and his tech, unaccustomed to the needs of a low-gravity situation, being unsure how to compensate for the differences in general BattleMech adjustments to the weapons and control systems. Nor had Joanna and Horse, his coaches, known much about what to do. They had all consulted manuals and hoped for the best.
The battle began. Aidan's Summoner leaped up, and came down again, more slowly than it had risen.
Of course. The relative lack of gravity makes each move more pronounced I wonder what he felt like at that moment.
I have no idea what it must be like traveling in a heavy 'Mech that feels light as air. Was he afraid or did his famous coolness prevail? I would really like to know. I suppose I should not be interested in him just because he was my father, but I cannot help it.
Always dissatisfied with holovid miniaturization, Diana readjusted the perspective so that Aidan's 'Mech seemed to grow a bit while the landscape contracted. As a result she missed the entrance of Megasa in his Mad Dog onto the scene. What she saw were some laser pulses materializing suddenly and heading toward her father's 'Mech before it took cover. The pulses passed out of the scene, seeming to disappear into the holovid table's protective panel.
The Summoner's response was quick. A line of LRMs arced toward the Mad Dog as it now moved into the scene. They went over its head. Apparently Aidan had not completely adjusted for the change in ballistic characteristics within low gravity. The LRMs landed just beyond the Mad Dog, near the edge of the holovid table. The effect was one of half-explosions abruptly cut off by the table edge, plus a little bit of dust being stirred up.
Diana sensed someone watching her. She was getting good at that. Lately she had suffered the rude remarks and challenges to fight of several trueborns who resented her seeking a bloodname. The incidents had made her more alert.
She considered pausing the holovid battle and turning around, but instead she kept her focus on the miniature 'Mechs maneuvering on the holovid table. The Mad Dog's approach was determined, its volleys of fire continuous. Because of the low gravity, it appeared to be quite agile, an impression no one would get from a Mad Dog in normal gravity. Tiny, almost indiscernible in miniature, pieces of armor were flying off the Summoner as the Mad Dog's fire hit home with regularity. A missile impacted the Summoner near its shoulder, and the low gravity sent it spinning wildly, turning it around, making it vulnerable to the Mad Dog from the back. Diana almost shouted "Watch out!" then remembered she was watching a holovid of a battle fought many years ago.
She was startled by a whisper behind her, near her ear. "Filthy freebirth," the speaker said.
Diana whirled around and almost collided with a beefy but rather short Jade Falcon warrior. His breath reeked of fusionnaires, the favorite drink of most Jade Falcon warriors, those who bothered with drinking anyway. Diana did not like them much, since they smelled like BattleMech oil, and the blast of fusionnaire aroma coming from this warrior's mouth made her gag. His eyes, which could not have expressed much intelligence even when he was sober, were cloudy with the alcohol and there were streaks of dirt near his mouth, no doubt places where he had wiped his mouth with his dirty hands following a good gulp of the potent liquid, The insignia on his fatigues showed him to be a Mech-Warrior of the 109th Striker Cluster—Star Colonel Heston Shu-li's unit, which had something of a reputation for rough behavior.
Joanna had mentioned this Cluster to Diana a couple of times. Having been left behind in the homeworlds while other Falcon units were assigned to the invasion, they were full of anger. Shu-li himself was a fierce-tempered officer who sometimes exacted punishment in extreme ways. The result, Joanna claimed, was that the warriors of the unit, the trueborn ones at least, tended to be a brawling, contentious lot.
Shu-li was known for overlooking his warriors' sometimes unClanlike actions as long as they fought fiercely. When called to account by high command, Shu-li—whose physical largeness and booming voice were impressive to all—claimed that his warriors fought better in combat if they fought often in noncombat situations. Since his unit's combat record was erratic, with his warriors fond of taking chances that sometimes led to disaster but just as often to victory characterized by an overwhelming display of 'Mech power, Shu-li had merely been reprimanded. However, his skills and the proven worth of the 109th Striker Cluster had kept him in command.
"Before I ask you what you said to me, MechWarrior..." Diana said in a cool voice, still watching the holo of her father's battle out of the corner of her eyes. This was a moment she especially enjoyed, when Aidan emerged from a dust cloud created by a relentless missile attack from Megasa. ". .. I will ask you to reconsider it, as you are obviously somewhat the worse for wear, and substitute something .. . well, more complimentary, than your previous oath."
The Mech Warrior seemed confused by her rather formal speech. When she reverted to formality, she found it gave her an advantage that her attackers never suspected. Words bought time, words gave you time to think of other words— the words of strategy—or at least gave you an edge to attack from.
The Mech Warrior had some difficulty focusing his eyes. He blinked several times. Then he tried to talk, but all that came out were unintelligible syllables.
"Should we reason together?" Diana said, more to buy time than to encourage dialogue. What she wanted to do was keep track of the miniaturized battle, and this boorish warrior was merely an intrusion, a speck of dirt in the eye. She caught the moment when the Summoner's leg came down hard on the moon's surface and snapped off at the knee. The broken-off piece dropped gently to the surface, bouncing low-grav all over the place, while Aidan's 'Mech rushed forward on momentum and fell into a pit that had not been at all obvious from the view Diana had set up.
The Mech Warrior muttered something about a lot of damnfool talk, then collected himself and said, louder this time, "Filthy freebirth!"
Giving the man only a cursory glance, Diana tried to delay him by holding her open-palmed hand up, while she maneuvered the holovid scene with her other hand. She moved the landscape to a point where she, like Megasa's 'Mech, seemed to stare right down into the hole, where the Summoner lay. This was the point where Megasa had made his mistake. He could have proclaimed himself victor of the match and earned the bloodname for himself, but earlier— in a pact agreed on by all the warriors who had made it to the latter stages of the contest—he had vowed that the match would not be over until the impostor Aidan, the free-birth at heart who had insulted the entire bloodname tradition by going after a bloodname, was dead. If he claimed victory at that moment, Aidan would have been rescued and the vow unfulfilled.
"Filthy freebirth!" the Mech Warrior muttered again and jostled Diana. She tapped a button to put the scene on pause, then turned to the drunken warrior and quickly decked him with a solid left to the cheekbone. The blow hurt her knuckles, hut she smiled through the pain as she watched her attacker fall to the floor comically.
Touching the pause button to reactivate the scene, she quickly expanded the viewing size to its largest so that Megasa's Mad Dog was the size of a small animal and the pit it looked down into had widened to fill more than half of the holovid table's field.
