“Nonsense. This was expensive.” Andrea gave me a kindly smile. “We know The Republic doesn’t pay… ”
“Mother!”
“Dear, it is just a fact of life. Now, Mason, we insist.”
“Appeal denied.” I rapped my knuckles on the table. “I appreciate it, but I needed to do this.”
A glance passed between husband and wife, and Andrea relented. “Well, at least come back to our place and have more coffee.”
“Andrea, I think we’ve taken enough of their time.”
Janella nodded. “There are briefings in the morning.”
I smiled. “And aphids. Can’t get after them quickly enough.”
Thomas’ hand swallowed mine. “Good to see you again, Mason. Thanks for dinner, and that was an excellent wine. Next time, though, there will be no slipping off to pay the bill.”
I shook his hand solemnly. “Just beat me to it.”
He laughed and lowered his voice. “You know, we’ll both be behind them.”
“Uh huh.” I smiled as mother and daughter hugged, then I gave Andrea a hug. “Thank you for the invitation. I appreciate you letting me intrude on your time with your daughter.”
Andrea held on a bit longer than was necessary. “Our pleasure, Mason. We almost think of you as family.”
We left the restaurant and walked quietly with them through the streets of Santa Fe. We reached Knights’ Hall quickly enough and refused another invitation to join Janella’s parents for coffee. As we made our way through the various corridors, Janella hugged my arm and laid her head on my shoulder.
“You do know I will have a talk with my mother, right?”
“No reason, she’s just being a mom. It’ll be interesting when she meets my mom.”
A little shiver ran through Janella. “I don’t know that I’m ready for meeting her myself.”
“My mom will love you.”
“You’ve said that. You’ve also said that she’s had umpty-eleven kids and works as a wildlife-management specialist in the forest preserve your father ran. She’s going to take one look at me and decide I’m soft.”
“Your being soft isn’t bad, you know, because it’s all in the right places.”
“Such a sweet talker. You think that’s going to get you somewhere?”
I smiled. “Well, that and the fact I let you eat half my dessert.”
She licked her lips. “Ah, yes, gallantry under fire. That does indeed deserve a reward, and I think I know just what it shall be.”
I awoke the next morning feeling well rewarded if not fully rested. We skipped breakfast, save for some coffee that brewed while we were in the shower. We swung by Janella’s place to get her a change of clothes, then both reported to the briefing room we’d spent so long in two days earlier. Nessa and Consuela were both back, and I saw evidence of Wroxley’s handiwork as well.
A fifth person joined us for the meeting and I immediately bowed low and respectfully to him. “Konichi-wa, Kurita Kitsune-sama.”
The man returned my bow, with the overhead light shining from his shaved head. The traditional Japanese garb he wore bespoke his Combine origins more than the slight almond shape of his eyes. That Asian shaping was easy to miss, since the eyes were a brilliant gray that reminded me very sharply of Victor’s eyes.
Which was only natural, since Kitsune Kurita was Victor’s son by Omi Kurita. Kitsune had been born while Victor was off on the Clan homeworld, and his birth was hidden from his father when Victor returned. While a lot of people believe Victor knew of him, the two of them never met until Kitsune, being elevated to the rank of Knight of the Republic, asked for the honor being bestowed on him to be given by “one without whom I would be nothing.” Devlin Stone and the others gathered thought he was referring to one of his uncles, either Hohiro or Minoru Kurita, but instead he addressed Victor. “Father, it is from your hand that I would receive this honor.”
This revelation caused quite a bit of a stir in the Draconis March of the Federated Suns, where propagandists turned Omi into a succubus who had seduced Victor for nefarious purposes. The upset was even greater in the Draconis Combine, however, as certain reactionary elements had been looking to champion Kitsune as a rival to the current Coordinator, Hohiro. Once they realized that Victor’s blood ran in his veins, the divisive talk stopped and, rumor had it, two minor lords committed seppuku out of mortification because they had championed a Davion to replace a Kurita.
Straightening up, Kitsune extended a hand to me. “It is good to see you again, Mason. Your scores from yesterday are promising.”
“Promising more work, yes.”
He smiled, then bowed to Janella and shook her hand, too. “And your scores are promises fulfilled.”
“You honor me, my lord.”
We sat again, with Kitsune sharing the couch with his niece. Consuela let us get settled, then began. “There has been nothing truly significant that’s developed over the last twenty-four hours. Stone’s wisdom in limiting access to BattleMechs is proving itself to be providential. The scramble to consolidate those resources is one that is hard to hide. We’re taking steps to secure the supply of ordnance, but ’Mechs going on a rampage can cause a lot of damage regardless. Luckily most of the industrial conversions we’ve heard about do not have sufficient power to use heavy energy weapons.”
I nodded. BattleMechs have a fusion reactor as their heart and it puts out a lot of energy. Not only does the ’Mech rely on it for powering the myomer muscles that give it the ability to move, but it also fuels the energy weapons. Lasers, particle projector cannons and Gauss rifles could suck a small city dry of power, and the diesel engines of ’Mechs like Digger and Maria just can’t generate that much juice. While Maria’s small pruning laser was enough to kill that one terrorist, aside from bubbling up paint on a BattleMech, it wasn’t going to be much of a threat.
Janella leaned forward. “You’ve clearly anticipated moves to establish supply lines. Security has been increased at storehouses. I assume you’re covering production facilities as well.”
The Countess shifted her shoulders uneasily. “We are doing our best, but the lack of data is hampering us. For all we know, we are sending requests to garrison units that have already decided to take power by themselves. Industrialists may have already thrown in with one power broker or another, and plant security forces may have decided to hijack the factories themselves. If a factory puts out two ’Mechs a week, they could have two companies of fully armed ’Mechs ready to go. Given what they would be arrayed to fight, that’s a formidable force.”
“It is indeed, Countess.” Kitsune’s voice came softly, making me lean in to hear him. “And this problem extends beyond The Republic itself. In instituting his reforms, Stone-sama always had Republic forces ready to deploy against those who opposed him. Their power was seen in the Free Worlds League and the Capellan Confederation, and it was enough, at the time, to cow forces in the Combine and Federated Suns. There is a difference, however, between feeling the lash and watching someone else get whipped. Those who only watched are now thinking the lash will never fall on them.
“As you know, the reformation of the Combine was declared early on, but forces resisted for the better part of another decade. BattleMechs were decommissioned, but in the Combine this did not have exactly the same meaning as it did elsewhere. To have a ’Mech destroyed would have been akin to asking a samurai to break his swords. A family’s pledge to retire a ’Mech was accepted and, for the most part, those pledges have been honored out of respect for Stone and The Republic.”
I rubbed a hand over my forehead. “With Stone gone and The Republic seeming to lose its grip, people are looking to get those ’Mechs back in working order. I don’t doubt museums throughout the Inner Sphere are being scoured for ’Mechs. Do we have any idea how many could be out there?”