NEW EXETER SPACEPORT
EMPORIA
FEDERATED SUNS
7 APRIL 3150
1445 HOURS
“Chu-i Wakizaka, report.”
Chu-sa Fume Aoki stood before four captured MechWarriors: three men, one woman. All of them wore the shorts and cooling vests of MechWarriors about to climb into a ’Mech cockpit. Two of them—Clements and Cole—looked hot and sweaty. Two of them—Vengalil and Menard—had not yet been tested. They would be next, and needed to understand the circumstances of their situation. It was clear that neither Clements nor Cole understood. Despite how tired the tested MechWarriors looked, there was a sly, smug sense to them.
Aoki would deal with that soon enough.
Chima Wakizaka, one of her best lance commanders and a Caucasian man, looked at his noteputer and shook his head. “Baron Louis Clements failed to meet the minimum requirements for lance placement. He failed every test and lost every match. Based on his scores, I’m surprised he knew how to put a neurohelmet on. It was as if he’d never been in a ’Mech before.”
Chu-sa Aoki glanced at Clements. He kept his head down, but it didn’t hide the man’s smile. She stepped toward him. The smile disappeared, and he straightened. So, he does have a survival instinct, she thought. Too bad he’s shown it too late.
She stood before him. “What do you have to say for yourself, Louis Clements?” The man’s own actions had stripped him of his title, though he did not realize it yet.
“I did the best I could, Lieutenant Colonel.” The man’s voice was soft. Still, it held the tone of disrespect the former noble had for their new overlords. Like a sulky teenager who knew he hadn’t performed a chore to expectations and resented being called on it.
“I prefer chu-sa.”
Clements nodded once. “Chu-sa.”
“Was it really the best you could do?” Aoki kept her voice as soft as his. She used her small, unassuming stature to get close.
“Yes, Chu-sa.” He wasn’t smiling now. The wariness was there, far too late.
She turned from him to the other tested MechWarrior. “And this one, Chu-i?”
Wakizaka read from his noteputer. “Baroness Meredith Cole. Barely adequate scores. Inconsistent performance. It was as if she occasionally remembered that she’d helped win the Battle of New Sussex less than a decade ago.”
Aoki stepped over to the woman. She had had such high hopes for this one. Perhaps she can still be salvaged. Perhaps. “I suppose you also did the best you could do, hmm?” She neither expected nor received an answer. Just the avoiding of the eyes.
It was clear what was going on here. As soon as the captured nobles discovered they were to be tested for placement within the Seventh’s ’Mech forces, they’d taken the juvenile approach of doing their worst and wasting everyone’s time. They had no sense of the consequences of their actions. They still held some vague thought that they had control here.
They were wrong.
Aoki moved away from the group. “Is there any hope for the two tested?”
Wakizaka knew what his chu-sa wanted. “At this time, I would say only Cole is worth keeping. She has some minor talent. Perhaps she would make a knowledgeable servant to one of the junior MechWarriors. She would at least understand the language of the warrior and how to prepare for battle. As for Clements…” He shook his head. “He claimed it was the best he could do. I see no place for him anywhere within the Seventh. Not only did he fail at everything he tried, he was proud of his failure. That is a man unworthy of service to the Dragon.”
Keeping her eyes on the four Emporia MechWarriors, she said, “Then you know what to do.”
Chu-i Wakizaka nodded to one of the infantry behind the captured quartet. The masked soldier stepped forward, and without preamble, executed Baron Louis Clements with a single laser shot to the back of the neck. The soldier followed it up with a double-tap after Clements hit the ground.
The three still-living nobles jerked in horror. They looked at each other with wide, fear-filled eyes. To Aoki, they looked like they were finally awake. About damn time, too.
“Lady Meredith, did you do your best this morning during your evaluation?” This time, she locked eyes with the baroness, demanding an answer.
Meredith stared at Chu-sa Aoki, not answering for a long, tense minute as she visibly weighed her options—the truth, or death. She tore her eyes away from the small woman just long enough to glance at her dead peer’s body before shaking her head. Her cheeks flushed a hectic red against too-pale skin.
“I didn’t hear that.” Aoki was pleased that the other woman had chosen to live.
Pulling on the inner steel that had made her the hero of New Sussex, Lady Meredith stood tall. “No, Chu-sa, it was not the best I could do.”
Aoki nodded. “I thought not. I will allow you to be tested again tomorrow…after you have received seven lashes. Four for the hours you have wasted. One for your disrespect of Chu-i Wakizaka. One for your disrespect of me. One for your disrespect to our most generous tai-sa, who gave you the chance to prove yourself in the first place…instead of cutting you down like a dog. If you do not exceed expectations, you will be executed on the spot. Do you understand?”
Meredith nodded. “Yes, Chu-sa Aoki.”
Chu-sa Fume Aoki regarded each of the Emporia MechWarriors before her. “Make no mistake: while we are testing you for the honor to serve the Seventh Ghost Regiment, you are fighting for your lives and the lives of every single person in your households…your family, your servants, and your workers. Any MechWarrior who fails their qualifying test will be executed, their houses immediately deemed to be eta and worthy only of base servitude. We will not allow inferior warriors in our ranks. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Chu-sa.” Only Meredith Cole’s voice could be heard, though every MechWarrior answered.
Aoki continued. “You do not understand the honor and generosity of this chance. Normally, we would have slaughtered your people wholesale and laughed as we did so, then taken what we wanted. Instead, we offer our hand and protection. Those who join the Seventh have no past. Only a future. But you must prove that you deserve it. Do not fail me again.”
As Aoki walked away, Chu-i Wakizaka said, “I suggest you pass this information along to the rest of your peers, Lady Meredith. This is the only warning they will receive. Vengalil and Menard, you’re up next. I pray you make a better showing of yourselves than Louis Clements did.”
Yoshizawa stood next to Baron Zachary Vogel and Baroness Esme Blanc in the shadow of the ’Mech bay, out of sight of the others. They had watched the execution play out. None of them had moved or made as sound as the soldier’s weapon fired, killing the noble. The execution had been a foregone conclusion, the shots expected. Also, any movement on Zachary’s or Esme’s part would’ve brought the unkind attention of the tai-sa’s guards, who escorted them everywhere.
All around them, Draconis Combine soldiers inventoried and collected replacement ’Mech parts, fuel, ammunition, equipment, and supplies. Combine mechanics and technicians clambered over and around the ’Mechs housed in the bay, inspecting them for repairs, variations, and flaws. The same cataloging of equipment and resources was going on in every bay, building, and warehouse on the spaceport. Soon, the conquerors would know exactly what they had to work with.
Yoshizawa noticed that while his troops moved with efficient steps in an organized effort, they also carried a haggardness that spoke of the hard times the Seventh had recently gone through. I promise, he thought, there will be more people to help and time for you to rest. I will see to it.
“You brought us out here to watch one of ours be executed?” Zachary couldn’t keep the frown off his face or out of his voice. He knew this was only part of the truth. The other part was to show him how fully the Dragon had taken control of the spaceport. It was a display of power. A reminder of the circumstances Zachary and Esme now found themselves in. As much as he hated to admit it, the move was effective, and he wondered what the tai-sa was softening them up for.
“I brought you here to see the judgment and generosity of the Seventh Ghost Regiment. The failed resistance. The consequences of action or inaction. The punishment of those who need punishing. The offered second chance. It is true. Once you join the Seventh, you have no past. Only a future.” Yoshizawa folded his hands and stood serene.
“Louis Clements was a good man,” Esme said. Her voice did not shake, but it was filled with suppressed emotion. “A good leader. A good fighter.”
“He was a liar.” The words were a slap to the face, stinging and unmistakable.
Both Zachary and Esme flinched from the harsh rebuke.
“He was a liar who was about to get everyone he knew killed. The Seventh cannot and will not tolerate incompetence or the illusion of it.” Yoshizawa’s voice was filled with false regret. “If he had simply followed instructions, he would not be dead. Nor would Lady Meredith be lashed. It was my chu-sa who insisted that she get another chance to prove herself. Her reputation preceded her. His did, too. Perhaps not as grand as the hero of New Sussex, but until now, his reputation was unblemished. If only he had not attempted such a foolhardy rebellion.”
Esme and Zachary exchanged glances.
“What did Chu-sa Aoki mean by the household would be deemed eta?” Zachary watched as Barons Vengalil and Menard were led to the pair of simulators meant for the Ritza Academy. He turned to the tai-sa as Lady Meredith was ordered to carry Louis Clements’ body out of the bay. He suspected the Combine soldiers now had a spot for executed citizens. He prayed that the bodies were not mutilated nor disrespected like old Baron Frosig’s body was, which still lay on the tarmac where he’d fallen. An “honorable” death and a dead body as a warning to others.
The dead bodies were beginning to pile up.
“For all MechWarriors who fail, their entire household will be gathered up and relegated to the lowest of the low, what we call eta. What happens to them after that is up to their new masters. It is beneath my notice.”
“Is that House Clements’s fate?” Zachary asked.
“Does Lady Eugenia have the opportunity to save her family?” Esme added.
Yoshizawa rubbed his smooth chin. “That will be up to Chu-sa Aoki. She has the final say with the MechWarriors.” He glanced at them. “Perhaps I will allow you to make a case for House Clements to her. It depends.”
“On?” Zachary asked.
“Now that you’ve seen what I wanted you to see, let’s go somewhere more private. We have things to discuss.”
Again, Zachary and Esme exchanged glances. They both knew Yoshizawa had something specific in mind. They just didn’t know what.