RITZA ACADEMY
LIEGEDEN, EMPORIA
FEDERATED SUNS
6 APRIL 3150
1000 HOURS
Nadine did not run back to her dorm room where her main shortwave radio equipment was. That equipment was for her less sensitive contacts. Instead, she headed to the server room for the academy’s communications array. She’d had a key since her freshman year. She figured at least one professor knew of her hobby, but she’d never abused the privilege, and she’d worked on the equipment to repair it for academy use.
She was most proud of the encrypted, code-matched signal circuits on both the sensitive and non-sensitive channels she used for secure communications between her and her spies, her “Treasures.” The matched randomizers on the base sets allowed the secured shortwave radio. Also, there was a bit of security through obfuscation. Shortwave radio was comparatively such low tech that almost no one would think to listen for it. Kind of like looking for signal fires on the tops of mountains. Even if the enemy did notice it, they only had a tiny chance of understanding what they were seeing.
She tucked herself into her back-corner workstation and checked over the equipment. No recorded messages. She put on her headphones, turned on the mic, made sure she was on the correct band, and paused. Am I doing the right thing? Is my need to know making something out of nothing?
Nadine shook her head. There’s something to this. The cadre wouldn’t give us busy work for nothing. She clicked the mic on. “This is Tiamat to anyone in the capital. Anyone around? Over.” Letting go of the toggle, she listened to faint static before trying again. “This is Tiamat. Anyone in the capital able to talk? Over.”
The static crackled, then a voice came clear. “Tiamat, this is Garnet. I hear you. Can talk only for a little. Over.”
“Garnet, are you okay? Is something going on in the capital?”
“Shift to private channel delta.”
Nadine had a number of private channels already coded for each of her contacts. Annabel, a.k.a. Garnet, a servant for the Blanc family, basically just let her know that everything had gone pear-shaped. She tuned into their agreed-on channel. “Garnet, I’m here.”
“Something’s wrong. Both the lord and lady got called to the spaceport in an alert.”
“What kind of alert?”
“The kind that brings all the MechWarriors to the spaceport.”
“Have you heard weapons fire? Explosions? Anything?”
“No, and that worries me. If it had been a drill, they’d be home by now. If not…the estate is close enough that we should’ve heard something other than the usual DropShips. Silence is bad…”
Nadine stared through her equipment. “I need eyes on the spaceport. Hazard pay.”
“I’ll figure something out. Keep your pay for now. This is my family.”
“Acknowledged. Message back with anything. And I mean anything. If I’m not here, record the message. You know the code.”
“Okay. Will do.”
“Garnet…be careful.”
“Always am. Over and out.”
Nadine put the microphone down and spun the dial back to the main broadcast channel and caught the tail end of someone’s call for help: “—are you there? We need help. Over.”
Ethan led his group of cadets to the stacks of ’Mech ammunition on the far end of the ’Mech bay, away from everyone else. All the various munitions looked heavy and difficult to manage.
“All right. Sir Felix has been planning this for a bit. He wants this jumble of ammo moved from this wall over to that wall, stacked into silos by type. It’s going to require two loaders, two inventory people, and six haulers.”
He made a show of looking them over. “Frosig and Cole, you get the loaders. Me and Menard will do inventory. The rest of you, haul each pallet of ammo from here to there. Two cadets per movers. Any questions?” Ethan turned his back before anyone could say anything. “Thought not.”
“Figures,” Elias muttered as he scowled.
Jasper looked at the split in duties and saw what they all saw. Elias, Noah, Giselle, Tilda, Ruby, and him were Sponsored cadets. The other four were Blooded. “I’ve got a question…why’d you assign the tasks that way? Why not have Giselle or Noah drive the loaders?”
Ethan turned to them, his eyes glancing around the bay to see who was watching. “I did it as I see fit. What’s your problem?” He stepped into Jasper’s personal space.
Jasper looked up at the Blooded cadet and saw the same disgust as before. “My problem is you treating Sponsored cadets like shit.”
“That’s what you Sponsored are good for…cleaning up our shit.”
“You’re such an asshole. You have no idea what any of us can do. Some squad leader you are. I’m learning exactly diddly and squat.”
By now, the rest of the cadets had circled the two of them.
“What did you call me, stray?” Ethan poked Jasper in the chest.
That was all Jasper needed. This had been building for weeks. All the snide remarks in the hallways, all the “accidental” shoulder bumps in the locker room, getting beaten so badly in the last ’Mech simulation, added to the pressure of not knowing what was really happening and being afraid it was going to be Hoff all over again, but this time with no escape. The poke to the chest was the match that lit the explosion.
Jasper hauled off and punched Ethan with a wild haymaker.
The larger boy staggered then came back, both fists raised. He socked Jasper once in the gut. As Jasper crumpled with the blow, Ethan followed it with an uppercut.
Despite his lack of experience, Jasper wasn’t going to go down without taking his nemesis with him. He rushed Ethan and headbutted him in the chest. As Ethan grabbed him in a headlock, Jasper pummeled him in the stomach.
The rest of the cadets jumped in.
Elias and Noah yanked Jasper from Ethan while Peter and Kristen pulled Ethan away. The whole group struggled with each other until they were behind one of the loaders.
Delany shoved her way into the middle of the ruckus. “Stop it!” Her voice carried to the entire group, but no farther. “You’re both acting like idiots. You want Lemaire on our asses? Because that’s what’s going to happen.”
“He started it,” Jasper said, still hanging in Elias and Noah’s grips.
“The hell I did, you damn feral!” Ethan pushed Peter and Kristen’s hands off him. “You are in so much trouble.”
Delany whirled on Ethan. “Shut the hell up. You have no clue how to lead. Some example you are. I’m in charge now.”
Ethan looked like he’d been slapped. “You can’t do that.”
“I can and I will.” Delany looked over her shoulder. Without a word, every Sponsored cadet bunched in behind her. She glared at Peter and Kristen. Peter stalked over to stand next to Giselle. Kristen glanced at Ethan, then moved to stand next to Peter.
Ethan shook his head. “You’ll regret this.”
“I won’t. But feel free to go tell Lemaire what happened if you like.”
The two of them glared at each other for a long moment.
Ethan turned away first. “Fine. I didn’t want to do the extra work anyway.”
Delany turned her back to him. “Right. Who actually has loader experience?” Giselle and Noah raised their hands. “Okay. You two on loaders. Who’s better?”
They looked at each other, then Noah pointed to Giselle. “She is. She’s been driving them ever since Sergeant Crusett discovered she’s a distant relative.”
“Fine. Osborn, you unload. Crusett, you load.” She waved them toward the large vehicles. “Goodryke, you’re on unload inventory. Roux, you’re on load inventory. The inventory sheets better match, or the two of you are reporting to Lemaire personally. The rest of us will work the mover platforms. Two and two. Frosig and Ufford. Cole and Bohemain. Me and Lang.” She glanced over her shoulder at Ethan. “I don’t have to tell you how to do inventory, do I?”
Ethan shook his head as he rubbed his sternum.
“Jasper? Do you need help?”
Jasper wanted to say no. He shrugged instead. His head hurt, his jaw hurt, and his stomach didn’t seem too sure of itself. But he was happy to see Ethan would have a shiner from where his punch had landed.
“Fine. I’ll walk you over there and tell you what to do.” Delany glanced around. “Any questions?” Unlike Ethan, she met everyone’s eyes and waited until they shook their heads. She beckoned to Jasper. “C’mon.”
He walked next to her, unsure if he’d won or lost the fight, but at least he hadn’t let Ethan get away with his bullshit.
“You see what I did?” Delany asked.
Jasper glanced back at the group. “You split up me and Ethan?”
“More than that.” She stopped. “Look.”
He did as he was told. “You put a boy and a girl on each mover.”
She nodded. “And…?”
Then he saw it. “Every mover has one Sponsored and one Blooded.”
“I also asked about the loaders. I split everyone up to balance out each team.” Delany gazed at him. “I put everyone into the best position for the team. Because we are a team. We have to work together.”
Jasper flushed. “And not run off on a wild thought?”
“Exactly.” She looked at Ethan across the room. “And, yeah, I separated you. But you have to know you’re going to end up working with—or for—people you don’t like. That doesn’t mean you can’t do the work. Ethan’s and your inventory sheets must match up.”
He scowled.
“Doesn’t matter that you hate each other. He’s still on your team.” Delany smiled. “Also, I didn’t do you any favors. You get to be the one to turn in the final paperwork. The job’s not done until then. Don’t let me down.”
“I won’t.” Jasper knew he should feel annoyed at Delany, but he didn’t. He just wanted to make her happy. “Why are you helping me like this?”
“I’m helping both of us. In my leadership class, we were instructed to find someone who needed help and to help them by example.” She glanced over at Ethan. “Also, Goodryke’s an asshole. I’ve dealt with assholes. We’re supposed to be so civilized. I still get it for the color of my skin or, sometimes, because I wear a bra. I recognize abuse for what it is. And one thing Goodryke hasn’t realized yet is that you Sponsored outnumber us Blooded by two to one right now. It’ll be three or four to one in a couple years. We need you. As much as you need Emporia for a home, we need you to help us keep it safe. To protect it.” She shook her head. “Any Blooded cadet who can’t see that is either bigoted or stupid or both.”
Jasper gazed at her, wide-eyed and tongue-tied. Delany usually wasn’t so verbose. Her blunt words made him feel both small and huge at the same time. He didn’t know what to do with such a conflicted feeling.
She took his noteputer and typed on it before handing it back. “Now, did you actually need help with inventory, or did you just need a breather?”
He looked down at his noteputer and the columns. His noteputer was linked to Ethan’s for the moment. “I think I’ve got it, but let me explain what I think I’m doing…”
“Tiamat here. Who am I speaking to? Over.” Nadine’s heart pounded. A call for help was never good. She thought it might be a young guard from House Frosig, but she wasn’t sure.
“Doubloon, Tiamat. Go to channel alpha. Over.”
She was right. Another one in trouble. She spun the dial on the receiver to the correct frequency. “I’m here, Doubloon. What’s your trouble?”
“You were at the dinner last night and saw what happened with the old baron?”
“Affirmative.”
“As the dinner ended, the host and hostess discovered the old baron gone. We were informed that he’d taken off toward the spaceport. The host sent us home to inform our lord and lady while he went after the old baron. An alert sounded an hour after we got home, and our lord and lady suited up to go to the spaceport.”
So far, it sounded expected. Though, Nadine hadn’t considered the widowed Baron Frosig for running off on a wild hair. “I’m with you. Where’s the problem?”
“No one’s heard from any of them since. Not anyone in our household. And no word from the host or hostess. You’d think they would’ve sent word by now…”
Nadine looked to the side and considered this. “If the host is there, you know everything’s under control. In any case, I’ve got eyes on the way to the spaceport now. Hang tight, and prep for…” She paused. Prep for what? “Prep for anything, and wait for a word from one of the other house treasures.”
Doubloon took a long time to answer. “We’re gonna send eyes to the spaceport, too.”
Nadine couldn’t blame him. “Acknowledged. Assume hostile action. Be careful.”
“Over and out.”
The audible click of the other receiver had a distinct finality that Nadine didn’t like. Probably shouldn’t have told a house guard to be careful, she mused. They got touchy with people, especially cadets, telling them how to run their business. Still, another set of trustworthy eyes on the spaceport wouldn’t hurt.
She straightened and looked at the clock. Time was running too fast for her taste, but there was nothing to do about it. She had to get back and let Harper know what was up.
Which was…old Baron Frosig had run off to the spaceport. Baron Vogel had followed. An hour later, there’d been an all-call alert that had every MechWarrior suited up. Then…what? Silence.
In this case, silence was ominous. She hoped like hell that her faith in Baron Zachary Vogel was correct. If he didn’t have things under control, everything was about to go to hell in a handbasket.
Six hours later, after the last pallet of ammunitions was stacked in place, Giselle backed the loader away from the wall. She looked down at Delany. “All done?”
“All done. Park it and get some food. Tell the rest.”
“Done and done.” Giselle maneuvered the loader like she’d been born to it. In short order, it was parked next to the one Noah had been using.
Jasper watched her tell the waiting cadets what Delany had said. Ethan typed something on his noteputer, then walked off with the crowd. Jasper’s noteputer chimed with a change on the inventory sheet and the disconnect from Ethan’s. He didn’t look at it.
Delany nodded to him. “All done?”
“Almost. I want to do a final check of the numbers and stuff.” He kept the screen at his side.
“You good with getting the inventory sheet to the sergeant major?”
Jasper nodded. “Yeah. Go on. You’ve been here as long as we have. I’ll see you in the mess hall.”
“Cool.” She gave him a wave and strolled off.
He looked at the noteputer. There was a new entry at the bottom of the sheet:
Stray: 1
Class: Feral
Name: Jasper Roux
It was so expected and so petty, all Jasper could do was snort with disgust. He deleted the inventory item, rechecked to make sure there were no other little surprises for Vale to find as he doubled-checked their work, and saved the document again. Maybe someday he’d actually have it out with Ethan and find out what the hell his problem was. Today was not that day. He was too tired to do more than the assigned tasks. Hopefully tomorrow would be a better day.