Bloodname

"Youhave evidence, Star Captain Joanna?"

"Yes. I was this warrior's training officer on Iron-hold."

A murmur passed through the crowd. Aidan had omitted all names from his tale, concealing Joanna's participation in it.

"Then he speaks the truth, quiaff?"

"Aff."

"And you have knowledge of the deception he describes, the masking of his identity to participate in the second Trial?"

From the moment Aidan had begun his claim, this was the moment, the question she had been dreading.

"I not only know about it, Star Colonel Kael Pershaw," Joanna said, "I participated in it."

That revelation produced a shock as great as any of Aidan's. Few of the warriors present knew Joanna, who had arrived on Glory only in time for the battle, but they respected her for downing the BattleMech that might have defeated Aidan, crashed the mission, and ended the conflict over the Pershaw gene legacy.

At Pershaw's behest, Joanna told tersely and with some bitterness about how a superior officer had sent her to pursue Aidan after he had been relegated to the tech caste and escaped Ironhold. She had found him, brought him back, and drilled him to enter the freeborn training unit. She explained her assumption that he was merely replacing a freeborn who had died accidentally. Only later did she learn that the cadet's death and the deaths of the entire freeborn training unit had been arranged. In the meantime, events transpired to force her to take command of the freeborn unit containing Jorge. (Joanna carefully neglected to mention the mysterious death of one of the freeborn unit's previous training officers, about which she was quite suspicious.)

She concluded by saying, "After Cadet Aidan qualified as a warrior through unorthodox strategy and teamwork with the freebirth who has just given witness, he was assigned elsewhere. I did not see him again until I came here, nor have I heard anything of his exploits as a warrior. As a loyal Clan warrior, I am forced to observe that his actions in the recent battle were distinguished enough to merit mention. That is all. These are the direct, blunt, and true words of a trueborn Clan warrior."

Kael Pershaw stared at Joanna for a long while before he began to speak in the quietest of tones. "You have both related a strange story of defiance and deceit," he said finally, "yet you both neglect to mention the name of the officer responsible for the wretched deeds you describe. What is his name, Star Captain Joanna?"

This moment, too, Joanna had been dreading.

"Falconer Commander Ter Roshak," she said, making each word precise and crisp. "He was commander of the Bravo Division of Cadet Training Iron-hold."

"Does he still hold that post?"

"I believe so, Star Colonel. The last I heard he had won a citation for turning out more successful warriors than any other training commander."

"The last detail is unnecessary, Star Captain. All this individual's achievements, all the high points of his codex, are rendered meaningless by the evidence you and Star Commander Jor—Aidan have given. Ter Roshak has injured us all. He has insulted the Clans and perverted our ways. I have no choice but to put Star Commander Jorge, Star Captain Joanna, and MechWarrior Horse into custody for transport back to Ironhold, where I am sure a Grand Council of the Jade Falcons will convene to examine and render judgment on the case."

At a snap from Pershaw's fingers, two Elementals immediately took hold of Joanna on either side. Two others had taken Aidan into custody. Far in the back of the crowd, ripples from a struggle showed that apprehending MechWarrior Horse was not going so smoothly.

"Further," Kael Pershaw announced, "as commander of the base where this treason has been exposed, I will travel to Ironhold to give evidence. And your conviction, Star Commander Aidan, will give me the greatest joy."

"Permission to speak, sir," Aidan shouted.

"Granted."

"I accept your judgment and transport back to Ironhold, but I request again that you render judgment on my claim."

For once Kael Pershaw appeared rattled, but he recovered quickly. "I have no choice in the matter, Star Commander," he said. "If what you say is true, and your matrilineal line is Pryde, then of course you may compete in the Trial of Bloodright. I doubt that any current Bloodnamed warrior will sponsor you, though."

"I will present myself at the Grand Melee."

"Oh? That is your choice, of course, but do not make your plans too soon, Star Commander. You must first go before the Grand Council, which will determine the disposition of your case. In all likelihood, you will not have to worry about the melee. Executed warriors do not usually compete in any phase of the Trial of Bloodright."

Aidan was enraged by Pershaw's sarcasm, but he forced his face to remain expressionless. "I accept your judgment and any other judgment to come," he said steadily, "as well as the Clan rituals that support them."

"Take these people away," Pershaw ordered. "A JumpShip will be charged and ready within a week. All those involved with the Aidan claim will travel from Glory to Ironhold on that ship."

* * *

Though Joanna protested mightily, the Elemental guards placed her and Aidan in the same jail cell. Because so few violations were deemed worthy of incarceration, Glory Station's prison was small and only two cells were currently available. Custom dictated that trueborns and freeborns be separated during imprisonment, which put Horse-alone in the other cell.

"You are a fool, Aidan," Joanna muttered under her breath, "but you have gall, going for a Bloodname, with your history. How egotistical of you to even think it possible. And do you not see any violation of the code?"

"Code? What code?"

"If you do not feel it, then of course you do not mind violating it. The code I speak of is among warriors. We depend on one another and we support one another, in battle and in all other action."

"Strange words coming from you, Joanna. You have no comrades."

"That is true, but it does not mean I will not close ranks with fellow warriors under attack or in a crisis. The code states that you should protect Ter Roshak, not reveal his treachery to the universe."

"Treachery such as Ter Roshak's should not be permitted. To do so would make us as decadent and weak as the people of the Inner Sphere."

Joanna was taken aback. "What do you know of Inner Sphere history?"

"I have made a study of it, from some . . . some sources I have discovered."

"I do not know about such decadence, but I do know we must maintain the code of loyalty."

"Why?"

"I do not understand you, Aidan."

"I am asking why loyalty is preeminent. What loyalty did Ter Roshak show by involving us in his schemes?"

"He gave you a second chance."

"Which I was not supposed to receive."

"But you got it, and you should have been satisfied."

"As a freeborn?"

"You are a warrior, are you not?"

"That is true, and living as a freeborn, I respect them and—"

"Respect?You can respect a freebirth?"

"Freeborn, you must say freeborn. And, yes, I can. I have served with nothing but freeborns these last few years. Their inferiority is only in the minds of others. Given a chance, they perform as well as any other."

"I cannot believe you would utter such filth, Aidan. Stop now. A freebirth is a freebirth, and that is that. Whatever else you have come to believe, you are a trueborn. You will always be that. You can assume an identity with the ease of a tribesman disguising himself in an animal skin, but your real identity comes from your birth. However you may have adjusted to being a freebirth, do not try to convert me to your ideas about freeborns."