THE VOGEL ESTATE
NEW EXETER, EMPORIA
FEDERATED SUNS
5 APRIL 3150
I hate it when Nadine’s right, Jasper thought as he ate as properly as he could. The monthly “family” dinners were as much about teaching social niceties as they were about maneuvering within a political arena. All of the adults gave each other furtive, worried looks. Sometimes they put their heads together for a whispered word. Tension hung thick enough in the air that some of the other cadets had noticed. Hell, I might have noticed it even without Nadine poking me.
As usual, there were five tables of fourteen. Each table had a sponsoring house with the family heads and their guests, along with six sponsored cadets and their dates—if they brought one. Only upperclassmen came to the monthly dinners. The noble houses changed, based on who sponsored the dinner that month, but House Vogel, second only to House Ritza, was always invited. Vogel always attended; Ritza rarely did. This dinner had Houses Vogel, Frosig, Menard, Estbury, and Blanc.
Thirty-eight adults and thirty-two cadets all having dinner made for a loud meal despite the dining hall’s rich furnishings, deep carpet, and plush curtains. In truth, the entire Vogel estate made Jasper uncomfortable. He barely remembered his home on Hoff, and it hadn’t been as nice as the academy, much less the noble family estate. Once war had come and they’d been evacuated, then orphaned, then sponsored, the academy had become home.
Fynn Pohl, another cadet, poked him in the leg. Jasper looked at him. He nodded at the head of the table, where a handsome man with salt-and-pepper hair sat.
“Jasper, your studies…?” Baron Zachary Vogel asked.
Startled, Jasper realized everyone at the table was staring. Even Darrell Winter and Fynn, who were sitting on either side of him. “My apologies, Baron Vogel, I was thinking about this afternoon.”
The baron stroked his gray-flecked beard. “A rough afternoon, or a triumph?”
Jasper knew better than to say something like “I don’t want to talk about it.” He shook his head. “Not a triumph, but…”
Baron Vogel let the silence grow.
“I attempted a maneuver during a mission, and it didn’t go as planned.”
“Sounds dire.” The man’s mild voice belied his interest.
“It caused the failure of the mission, my lord.” Jasper shifted in his seat, uncomfortable with both the memory and the attention.
Baron Vogel considered this as he sipped his wine. “What went wrong?”
Jasper shot Nadine a look. She gave him the tiniest shrug. There was no saving himself. “We didn’t have the correct number of ’Mechs for the maneuver. I didn’t think of this at the time. If I’d had a full lance, it might have gone differently.”
“Ah…the lack of the last pair of simulators at the academy vexes you once more.” The baron leaned to his wife, Lady Shannon, a MechWarrior in her own right. “What did I tell you? Jasper points out that he cannot learn the proper lance tactics without a full lance.”
Jasper put his fork down. “I didn’t say that, sir. I…should have remembered the lack of the fourth ’Mech.”
The baroness ignored Jasper. “Yes, perhaps. But what happens when they are in the field without a full lance because that’s what happened?”
“I—” Jasper began, then stopped as Nadine cut him off with a small jerk of her hand. She mouthed, “Planned.” at him.
Now the baron and baroness were smiling playful smiles at each other.
The baron gestured toward the middle of the table. “Ah, but the cadets need to know the foundation of strategy and tactics before they can adapt to such changes as a lost man.”
“Or woman.”
“Or woman,” Baron Vogel allowed. “Therefore, I believe it is high time for the fourth set of simulators to be delivered to the Ritza Academy. Don’t you agree, Jasper?”
Jasper’s mind worked fast. If the baron had already known about the disastrous mission and wanted to use his ward as a jumping-off point to make such an announcement, he’d want Jasper to play the part of a dutiful ward. “I do, my lord, a good foundation of knowledge, tactics, and strategy is key. But I also agree with Lady Shannon. You have to know how to adapt to situations on the field.”
Baron Vogel laughed. He nodded to the other end of the table, where Sir Robert Corbin, one of the academy’s history and manners professors, sat. “You’ve taught this batch of Sponsored well, Robert.”
The middle-aged man with a sandy complexion smiled, revealing white teeth set against smooth, tawny skin. “I must admit, I’m surprised. His words are more of what I expect from his sister.”
Nadine lifted her glass to Sir Robert. “Thank you, sir.”
Jasper didn’t know if he should feel complimented or insulted. “But, we are getting another pair of simulators?”
Baron Vogel nodded. “Yes. We all thought it was high time.”
“That’s wonderful!” Jasper grinned, his bad mood lifted. The fourth pair of simulators would let them work with actual lance tactics against live opponents. Of course, they’d practiced full lances against simulated opponents, but it wasn’t the same. Live opponents did the unexpected. “When will they arrive?”
“They’re on the ground now, and will be at the academy tomorrow or the next day. I—”
“Yeah. And what else is being delivered, huh? I wanna know.” A loud male voice from the next table cut through Baron Vogel’s reply. The man’s words had the slight slur of someone who had drunk too much.
Jasper glanced over Nadine’s shoulder but didn’t recognize the much older, unkempt man. He glanced to Nadine. She shook her head. She didn’t recognize him either.
“My Lord Frosig, it is so good to see you out of your home and enjoying our wine,” Baroness Vogel said. “We had wondered what you have been up to. How are the crops this year?”
Jasper and Nadine exchanged a glance. The nobles didn’t usually have conversations between tables. It just wasn’t done.
“Don’t give me that, Lady Shannon.” Frosig scowled at her. “Don’t try to change the subject. We all know why we’re here. I wanna know what else’s up there. Simulators are important, yes, but small potatoes. What else is on the radar?”
Lyric leaned toward the center of their table so the rest of the cadets could hear her. “Baron Gregory Frosig. Lost his wife recently.”
Jasper blinked at Lyric, surprised she knew who the man was.
She shrugged. “I hear things, too. It’s not just your sister.”
The Vogels glanced at each other, and Baron Vogel nodded to his wife. She stood and began walking toward the outspoken baron. Jasper, Fynn, and Darrell half jerked to their feet before the baroness gestured for them to sit.
The room quieted as the small disruption gained the notice of more of the diners. To have the hostess leave her seat during the dinner signaled something important was happening.
Baron Frosig watched her approach and shook his head. “I’m not wrong. I know what I’ve heard. Something’s going on. I want to know more. Otherwise I wouldn’t have come to this thing in the first place. Not with my Lillian in the grave. Not with my grandson coming of age to fight.”
Baroness Vogel leaned down to the old man. “My lord, let me take you to a room where you can rest.”
Baron Frosig glared up at her. “I’m not wrong, Shannon. Am I?”
Jasper leaned toward them, eavesdropping for all he was worth. Nadine was right. Something major was going on. This didn’t sound like the words of a belligerent drunk, but of a worried old man a little too deep into his cups.
Baroness Vogel flashed him a small, polite smile and lowered her voice. “Gregory, please, let me take you to a room where you can rest. It’s been a trying time for you.”
“Tell me, am I wrong?”
Nadine’s voice cut through anything else the two nobles might have said and startled Jasper’s attention back to his table and the people around him.
“’Mechs are one thing, but give me a Fox Armored Car any day of the week. What I’ve fixed up is twenty tons of fast, tough machine that’ll take down a ’Mech every time.” Nadine glanced up and down the table, then settled her eyes on her brother. “’Mechs aren’t the end-all be-all of war. It’s the tankers who get stuff done. My bola catapult will tangle up even a heavy ’Mech. Two Vedettes to harpoon a ’Mech from behind will pull it down and keep it down.”
Jasper frowned, confused at the sudden change of topic.
Darrell picked up the gauntlet Nadine had thrown. “No way that bola of yours is going to take down a heavy ’Mech.”
“If warriors on horses with ropes can do it, my modified Fox can do it, too.” Nadine looked over to Sir Robert. “Isn’t that right, sir? Didn’t you tell us about that last cycle?”
The history and manners professor nodded. “I did. I don’t remember the specifics. Several horses with long ropes tangled up ’Mechs and brought them down. Then one of the warriors would climb the ’Mech and dispatch the MechWarrior.”
As Sir Robert spoke, Baron Frosig struggled to his feet and allowed Baroness Vogel to lead him from the suddenly loud room as conversation broke out across the dinner tables like weapons fire. There was no hope of hearing the rest of what the pair said as they headed to the side door and left.
Darrell shook his head. “That gambit would work once. Maybe. If it worked at all and your tanks didn’t become flails on the end of chain whips.”
“Sometimes, once is all you need.” Nadine continued to watch Jasper.
Lyric tapped her lip. “Personally, I like the Vedette. It’s slow, but heavy enough to not be thrown around. I still think we should’ve used it for the catapult.” She turned to her right. “What do you think, Gemma? Which is your favorite?”
The small cadet tilted her head and adjusted her glasses. “If I drove a tank or armored car…which I’d prefer not to…I’d go with the Fox. Otherwise, I’d go with my favorite ’Mech, the Watchman. I prefer its ability to withstand heat, and it’s a common enough chassis that every armory or military group should have at least one. Also, I agree with Winter.” She nodded at Darrell, who flushed and looked away. “The bola and harpoon gambit would work only once. If—and that’s a big if—it worked at all. It’s never been live tested, has it?”
Nadine picked up the gauntlet again. “Not live, no. But many times in simulation with a ninety-two percent success rate. Like I said, sometimes all you need is for it to work once on the right target. But we don’t have any ’Mechs to spare for a live test, much as I’d like. They’re too valuable to damage like that in a test.”
As Baroness Vogel returned to the table, Baron Vogel reentered the conversation, taking control of the table’s attention. “I believe such innovation is worth exploring. We are on the border of Federated Suns territory. We don’t have the same resources as other worlds. We’ll figure out a way to test your tactic and your tools. I’ll speak to Dame Emma and Lady Ruth about it.”
Silence descended across the table as Baron Vogel stopped speaking. The woman to the baron’s right, Lady Jane, gestured to the baroness. “Lady Shannon, this Wellington is divine. I must have our cooks confer and see where our recipes differ.”
The baroness nodded. “Of course. I’ll see that it happens.”
Just like that, the adults at the table split off into their own conversations again, leaving the cadets to stare at each other and finish their meals.
Jasper frowned at Nadine and mouthed, “Why?” Why had she kept him from doing the exact thing she’d told him to do?
“Later,” she mouthed back, then leaned over to murmur to Lyric.
Jasper cleared his plate. Despite the uncomfortableness of the evening and the strange dance of politics and verbal jousting around him, the food was good. Really good. Better than what he got at the academy.
Though it’d been years, he still remembered those lean and hungry months between the evacuation and the testing. There’d been many days where neither he nor Nadine had eaten. He didn’t think he would ever forget them.