Meg detached the landline from the exterior access port and snapped it into a similar connection on the elevator floor. She started the elevator moving downward, then closed the doors over their heads. In the darkness and silence of the airlock's vacuum, the Kell Hounds descended.
Dan shivered unconsciously. "Meg, how about some lights?"
"No can do, Dan. Styx Mining was a frugal company. Why waste them in an elevator shaft? I am bringing the atmosphere back up, though." The elevator began to slow and Meg laughed. "Ground floor. Lamps, lingerie, and angry Kuritans."
Bethany Connor laughed, too. "Lamps? Now I know what to do with the next PantherI see."
Dan swallowed as the elevator stopped. "O.K. Can the chatter. Connor and Brand are point. Fitzhugh, Baker, and Lang are rearguard. Open the doors, Meg."
The interior airlock doors opened slowly. Connor and Brand dropped their Panthersinto low crouches, thrusting the snouts of their PPCs through the widening crack. Not a word passed between the two MechWarriors, but each covered a different arc of the room.
"Clear, Dan."
"Roger. Head out and secure the hallway."
In response to the order, Brand slipped through the half-opened doors. He covered the large, 'Mech-scale doorway in the wall to the right. Bethany Connor trotted her 'Mech behind Brand's, then took up a position where she could cover the doorway more fully. Brand closed to the doorway and peeked his Panther'shead around the corner.
"Clear again, Dan."
Dan stepped his Valkyriefrom the elevator. "Go down the corridor no more than two hundred meters. You do remember enough Japanese to answer some basic questions if you meet a force before we can come up, don't you?"
"Hai,Allard-sama."
"Cute. Get going."
Brand's Panthervanished into the corridor, with Connor's 'Mech following closely. Cat Wilson took up Brand's old position next to the door, and Salome's Wolverinebacked him up. The other Panthers,piloted by Diane McWilliams and Mary Lasker, formed up behind Dan's Valkyrie.The Catapult, Jenner,and Waspstill stood in the elevator.
Dan waved Cat and Salome forward with his 'Mech's left hand, then started to follow them. McWilliams and Lasker took up defensive positions near the doorway, then drifted into the corridor behind the Valkyrie.
Brand's voice exploded into Dan's neurohelmet. "Son of a bitch! Dan, get down here. Fast!"
"Austin, what is it?"
The Lieutenant's laugh carried utter disbelief. "This you've got to see."
Dan frowned. "This is not the place for jokes, Lieutenant. What is it."
"I'm not joking, sir. The Captain wouldn't believe me if I told him."
This better be good, or your ass is in a sling, Brand.Dan squeezed his Valkyriepast the Wolverineand quickly marched to where Brand's Pantherhad dropped to one knee. Further up the corridor, crouched just this side of an intersection, Connor covered the converging hallways. Dan waved his left hand, and Cat brought his Pantherup to match Connor's at the other side of the corridor.
Dan caught his first glimpse of them over Brand's shoulder. "Oh, my God!" he muttered, switching over to the command frequency. "Salome, we have trouble."
"What?"
"Not what. Who."Dan now understood the disbelief in Brand's radio message. "We've just found a dwarf, a MechWarrior, and the Archon-Designate of the Lyran Commonwealth!"
* * *
Dan shifted his radio from Tac-2 to the battle channel that all the Kell Hounds shared. "O.K., this is the plan." Dan swallowed hard as he looked at the different 'Mechs standing around the docking bay. He turned his Valkyrie'shead toward the Waspand Jenner.
"Meg, you and Eddie will take the Archon-Designate, Leftenant Redburn, and Clovis to the surface. Stay hidden. The Macis coming in for you. After the rest of us leave here, switch over to Tac-2 and Patrick will give you instructions for pickup."
Both 'Mech pilots acknowledged the instructions, then Dan continued with the briefing. "The rest of us are going to buy the Macthe time it needs to get away with Melissa Steiner. The Cu-camulushas already started moving away as fast as she can, and the Macwill catch up once it takes our passengers aboard. The Cuwill have worked up two days' worth of charge—which is more than we had getting here—and will jump our guests out to some Fed star."
Cat Wilson's bass voice thundered through Dan's neuro-helmet. "The aero wing will screen the Mac,right?"
"Correct. That keeps it safe from any Kurita Panthersroaming the surface. The DropShip heading back to the Kurita jumpers can't turn around in time to reach the Cubefore it jumps. The only interference comes from the ship that dropped the Pantherswe destroyed on the surface."
Austin Brand spoke with chilling finality. "And it won't take the Cuunless it has some military forces—the PanthersClovis says it dropped into the big bay."
Dan shrugged and sighed. "That's it, folks. We've got to hold the Kuritans long enough for the Archon-Designate's escape to become a mathematical certainty." Which means that the Kurita force will pound us into plum sauce, if Clovis's computer projection is correct.Dan realized that the same thought would also be occurring to the others in his command, but no one voiced the gloomy prediction.
"Captain Allard, this is Leftenant Redburn." Pain and anger threaded Redburn's words, but his utter fatigue dominated them. "Let me out of this Jenner.I've got some fighting left to do."
Dan laughed. "Sorry, Leftenant. I've got my orders. Kell Hound Company policy. No pilots at less than 100 percent allowed into combat." Dan focused on the Wasp."And if you're listening, your Highness, we will not leave you or Clovis here, either. Colonel Kell was quite clear in his orders."
Dan walked his Valkyrietoward the doorway. Because the battle scanners gave him full, 360-degree vision, he saw Brand's Pantherreach out and touch hands with Meg Lang's Wasp. For your sake, Meg, I hope that your grandmother was wrong in making you promise never to love a MechWarrior. I have a feeling this battle is going to be rougher on the survivors than it is on those who die.
Dan's Valkyrieled the remaining Kell Hounds deeper into the planetoid. Cat Wilson formed himself up as Dan's partner. Diane McWilliams and Mary Lasker hung together right behind the Valkyrie.Brand and Salome Ward, with their vastly different 'Mechs, formed the third fire team. Fitzhugh in his Catapultand Bethany Connor in a Pantherformed the column's rearguard.
Dan studied a schematic that Clovis had pulled from the base's computer and pumped into the Valkyrie.It showed the docking bay where the Silver Eagleand the Bifrosthung suspended by invisible magnetic threads. The massive area extended two levels and featured over two dozen 'Mech-sized corridors converging on it. The Kell Hounds would have ample holes from which to attack, and an equal number through which to retreat. Dan smiled. We can do some damage before—
A loud, screeching signal howled into his neurohelmet for a second or two before the computer cleaned it up. "Hello! Hello!" The voice, which Dan had never heard before, hesitated with the words and almost succumbed to converting the Ls into Rs. A Kuritan!