Battletech #31 - Operation Excalibur by William H. Keith Jr

Author:William H. Keith, Jr. [Jr., William H. Keith,]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780451455260
Publisher: Roc
Published: 1996-08-31T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

The collective mood of the Legion officers was subdued as they entered their visitors' quarters once more, escorted by Lyran Alliance troops who took up their accustomed positions outside the door. "Weel, we gave it th' good fight," McCall said heavily.

"Good fight nothing," Lori snapped. She whirled to face Grayson as soon as the door was shut behind them, eyes sparking. "What the hell is going on, Gray?" she demanded, her voice low and fast. "It's not like you to just—"

She broke off, practically in mid-word, as Grayson held up one warning finger. He glanced back and forth, then looked at her and winked. Casually, he tugged at one ear with his hand—his artificial hand—and she realized that he was concerned about spy devices and unseen watchers. "I don't really want to discuss it," he said.

She hesitated, then nodded, a bit sharply. In her anger she'd forgotten the danger. Still, how much more damage could they do now? The worst had already happened. Grayson had been found guilty, ordered to renounce command of his precious Legion, and the Legion itself was in danger with its landhold, with its world, forfeit.

No large military force could survive for long as a unit without some planetary base to call its own. It was more than a matter of having someplace to call headquarters, and BattleMechs needed more than pilots and techs to remain operational. They needed vast amounts of ammunition, silicarb lubricants, replacement parts, circuitry and electronics, fusor packs and power couplings. They needed a vast support infrastructure, people to produce the spare parts and manufacture the ammunition. Farms to grow the food needed to feed all of those people. More people to run the farms ... truck the produce ... handle transport logistics and communications for the unit.

And most of those people had families....

The Gray Death Legion, with orders to depart from Glengarry within ninety days, had just lost all of that. They would have to disband, unless they could find another employer, one well-to-do enough to feed and equip a regiment numbering hundreds of BattleMechs and thousands of people for as long as it might take to get established once more.

"Listen to me, Lori," Grayson said softly. Reaching out, he took her by both shoulders, looking into her eyes with an intensity and a depth that she'd not seen in the man since, well, since before he'd left for Caledonia. Something had changed in him, but what?

"Listen," he said again, for emphasis. "I can't tell you everything, not now. But it's going to be all right."

"But Gray—"

"And the reason I know that is because you're going to be in command of the Legion now."

Her eyes widened and she fumbled for the right words. "Gray, I don't want ... I mean, that's crazy!"

"You may be the best for th' job, lass," McCall said. "The lads, they'll aye listen t' you."

"You would be the better choice, Davis," Lori said. "But it's not going to come to that. Grayson has been moping around for months, and now he ups and decides to quit on us.

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