The Marshal laughed. "You a superstitious man, good knight?"
"Maybe so. We've been fighting a lot of their armor here, and lot of other groundpounders, too. But we've seen damned little of their BattleMechs.
"So where are the 'Mechs?"
61
AgroMekTek Shipping Warehouse, Port Paix, Le Blanc
Le Blanc PDZ, Draconis March, Federated Suns
6 July 3039
Noise filled the long, open space that was the AgroMekTek shipping center. That was not unusual for this manufacturer of industrial and agricultural 'Mechs. The corporation often did some minor disassembly of its product here in order to meet the crating needs for the interstellar shipment of their product. That kind of work was noisy. What was unusual was that the machines being worked on in the warehouse were not being broken down; they were being assembled. They were also BattleMechs.
Workers climbed among the scaffolding to free delicate assemblies from anti-shock packing and to reinstall the various pieces of weaponry and electronics that had been shipped separately, for security purposes. Respirator-masked painters scrawled stripes and splotches of color over the white base of the machines, taking special care to cover the long-tailed stars of the 'Mechs' left legs. A sharp petrochemical smell pervaded the warehouse as chem-suited men and women used solvents to strip the last of the protective gel from weapons and moving surfaces. Hard-eyed men with lurid tattoos on their stripped torsos sweated and grunted as they wrestled crates marked "Sounding Rockets" into stacks at the machines' feet. One box escaped its handlers to crash to the ferrocrete floor and shatter, spilling its contents and revealing them to be high-explosive missiles instead. Cursing vigorously, the kobungathered their wayward charges.
Yasir Nezumi walked up to Tomoe Kurita as she stood alternately surveying the progress of the workforce around her and studying a map of Port Paix. The yakuza oyabun'sswarthy face was lit by the toothy grin that he considered a friendly and winning smile.
"It goes well, yes?"
Tomoe looked up from her map. "Hai, Oyabun.They are almost ready."
"We are pleased to be of service to the great lord Theodore. May he prosper." He leaned forward to indicate confidentiality. "I am glad the Kanrei has not held the unfortunate circumstances of our first contact against my organization. It would have been more pleasant had I known who he was."
"He felt it better to be cautious then, Oyabun.He understands and holds no grudge. You and your organization have served him well."
Nezumi felt relief. He was never very comfortable around Theodore, always afraid that the incident on Benjamin was never far from the Kanrei's mind. The words of Theodore's wife and lieutenant eased that concern. "I am glad that I could be of aid, however small, in introducing him to the Kuromaku."
"The Kanrei and the Combine are grateful for your patriotism."
Nezumi bowed. Anything he could do to ingratiate himself with Theodore would not hurt. The Kanrei might simply be waiting for the end of this unpleasantness before settling old scores.
"Perhaps some of my men can be of use to you in taking the city."
"It's unnecessary for you to expose your operation here to such danger, Oyabun.This world should not be difficult to secure. Le Blanc is normally an open planet, its money-grubbing rulers seeking to rival Galatea as a haven and hiring hall for mercenaries. They only accept the presence of Davion troops reluctantly, and have no real loyalty to the Federated Suns. The locals will not interfere. With the House troops gone to the front, there is nothing more than a skeleton force stationed at the garrison fort on the outskirts of the city."
"Forgive my ignorance, Jokan,but why, then, have you infiltrated so many MechWarriors into the city? Chokei's company has been here openly for weeks, supposedly seeking employment. They are strong. Could they not have taken the garrison themselves?"
"They could," she conceded. "And they will, if the Buddhas smile. But that is only a diversion. My senshiand these fine BattleMechs, which have been lost in transit to the ComStar compound here"—at this Nezumi bowed—"are to take advantage of Port Paix's merchants. We will capture their DropShips at the landing field. Once the ships are secured, we will use them to board and take their JumpShips."
"So ka.Then they will join the chain of vessels that make our bridge across the stars."
Tomoe laughed. "You have a poetic way about you, Nezumi -san. That's hardly what I would call the hodgepodge of JumpShips we've got out there. They're mostly tramps, pirates, and smugglers." At Nezumi's slight frown, she added, "And merchants." He accepted her emendation with good grace. Many of the JumpShips hiding among the uncolonized suns between the Combine and Theodore's targets had Come from companies run by the yakuza. Some of those ships had never been involved in illegal activities. In all, the yakuza assets far outnumbered the very few military vessels in the "bridge across the stars."
That "bridge" was a chain that would allow rapid transfer of Kurita assault units into the heart of the Draconis March. As one vessel jumped into a system, it would transfer its DropShips to a waiting vessel with its Kearny-Fuchida drive charged and ready. The passengers would not have to wait while the original ship recharged its drive, a process that could take a week or more. The technique was commonly used for couriers and to transport the rulers of Great Houses, but merchants usually found that the reduction in transit time was not worth the expense.
"Even merchants honor the Dragon, Jokan.You will find our captains experienced and efficient."
"I'm sure we will, Oyabun,"she said with a smile.
A young secretary called to Nezumi from the catwalk outside the office suspended fifteen meters from the ferrocrete. He acknowledged her with a wave, then bowed to Tomoe.
"It is time for the signal broadcast."
"Let's go."
They took the lift up to the office suite, arriving in time to see the ComStar logo fade from the room's news monitor. A yellow-robed Adept greeted her invisible audience and gave a rundown of the daily receipts of newsworthy messages received at the HPG station.
Tomoe and Nezumi waited patiently through the war news, as they had each day of the week since she had arrived. Nezumi sweated, though the office was cooler than the busy workfloor. A glance assured him that the window's broad, frosted pane was slanted open to let air into the room. Nerves,he told himself. Somehow I think that today is the day.
The general news crawled by, to be followed by the standard list of messages awaiting pickup or private broadcast. Nezumi scanned them avidly and found it. A transmission from Mister Gan of Port Paix to his sister, Rose.
Nezumi looked to Tomoe for confirmation. She nodded.
He stepped behind the desk and tapped out the code for the ComStar station on his comm deck. As he waited for the connection to go through, he readied the speech synthesizer that would be the voice of Rose Gan. Soon they would verify the order to move by checking the seemingly innocuous contents of the traveling salesman's message to his sister.
Nezumi gazed out the window as he waited for the link to open. The synthesizer spoke, beginning its conversation with the ComStar Acolyte who answered the call. He noticed smoke rising in the northeast. Soft and muted by the distance, the sounds of battle drifted through the opened window.
"That will be Chokei," Nezumi decided. "He always was overeager to get to the action."