Geoff Kenner dismounted from the Excalibur.  John Taggart was already waiting for him by the 'Mech's feet.

"Kenner!  Never thought I'd see the likes of you again, after you up and joined that cult."

Just hearing his accent, Geoff grinned.  Back on Earth, he'd loved his occasional trips out to Wales, in large part because of that accent and the way it reminded him of his old friend.  They saluted each other and followed it up with an embrace.

"By God," said Taggart, "I thought we were well and truly thumped out there."

"You were!" said Geoff.  "The Dracs had you dead to rights."

"No longer.  Techs tell me we can save at least half the regiment."  Taggart shook his head.  "Not the colonel, though.  Krieger took one in the cockpit."

"So the Irregulars are yours?"

"I suppose.  Unless you want 'em?"

"That's not how the chain of command usually works."

"You did save our arses.  And you'd be doing us a big favor, joining up.  I mean, look at this!"  He gestured up at the Excalibur.  "You got the crews to maintain this stuff?"

"Our whole tech team is on the Overlord."

"That settles it, then!"

Geoff rolled his eyes.  "Here, tell you what.  You got a half-kroner piece?"

Taggart handed him the coin.

"Call it," said Geoff.

"Heads."

He flipped the coin.  "It's tails."

Taggart laughed.  "Like I said, it's settled.  Kenner's Irregulars."

"That sounds stupid, John.  Not to mention egotistical."

"Why, what do you want to call the unit?"

"I don't know, something else.  Anything."

Taggart looked up again at the 'Mech.  "The Excaliburs?"

The crowd of mercenaries outnumbered the coffins, but not by much.  Geoff's Purists had changed out of their Com Guard uniforms, but it was still easy to tell them apart from the surviving Irregulars.  Taggart's troops seemed stooped over to Geoff--tired, prematurely aged by their losses.

But that made them veterans, too.  And once they healed, it would make them better warriors in the end.

He heard Taggart's voice behind him and turned to see someone else he knew--a young officer in the garb of an Irregulars lieutenant.

"Geoff, you remember Anita Chu Lai," said Taggart.

"A. Chu Lai!"  Geoff shook her hand.  "I thought you were a Blazing Ace for life, Anita."

She shook her head.  "I came as far as I could working for Gideon, but then I wanted to be an officer.  There's no room for advancement in a lance-sized unit.  John put in a good word for me when Krieger needed a new lance commander."

"Didn't want to sign back on with Waco?"

Chu Lai rolled her eyes.  "Never again.  Talk about a regiment with a death wish."  She turned serious.  "So what's this about reorganizing, sir?  Should I be calling you Colonel?"

Geoff looked at John, who shrugged.  "We're keeping a few things under our hat for the time being," he said.

The memorial service began.  A sash with the Irregulars' insignia was draped over each coffin, ending with Josiah Krieger's.  Taggart took the podium.

"We lost more brothers and sisters yesterday than we have in the regiment's whole life prior.  Such a loss can't help but transform us.  The Irregulars are Joe Krieger's unit.  We'll bury that name and begin something new, and hopefully better, here today.  But first we need to talk about what it is we're burying.  It's a noble tradition--not an old one, but a great one all the same.  A tradition of service.  That's what Joe built for us.

"He was a mercenary, same as all of us, and that meant fighting for money.  But he never loved money the way some do, not the way he loved people.  He was always the one to buy the first round, and the second.  So many times I saw him dip into his personal fortune to send his soldiers to the best hospitals, and their children to the best schools.  Make sure to lift a glass in his name tonight.  I know he'd appreciate that, and he'd want to be there for it."

Taggart motioned Geoff to come up to the podium.  "I want you to meet an old friend.  Geoff Kenner has been cloistered with ComStar for a few years, but he's still the mate who fought beside me for four years in the Dioscuri, still the hero who fought and won beside Gideon Braver on Albiero.  Yesterday his Guards saved us and our regiment from an early grave."

Geoff approached the microphone.  The crowd watched him expectantly.  He saw a few tears, drawn out either by the laying of the caskets or by Taggart's speech.  He tried not to let himself feel the pressure.  "John and I have plans for the unit," he began, "but this isn't the time for that.  This is the time to heal.  John and I have spoken with the Commonwealth liaison and are finalizing plans for a period of rest and refit."

"I wish I'd met your colonel," he went on.  "I've fought beside you now, but not bled with you.  Not the way he did.  Still, I lost someone recently.  Maybe that's enough to help me understand.  One thing I'm sure of: we have to go on together and try to hold each other up.  That may seem hard now, but we're soldiers.  We survived the battle.  We can survive its aftermath."

The 'Mechs were painted silver with gold and blue details--no more Com Guard white, no more of Krieger's blue.  Kenner's Purists had to get used to lances, companies, lieutenants, captains, colonels--which suited them just fine.  They were warriors.  Good riddance to the religion of Blake.

Most of the changes were a pain in Geoff's ass, though.  Taggart was a good XO, but Krieger's Irregulars had been gutted on Atria, and now they were being asked to reorganize under a colonel they'd only just met.  Kenner kept the surviving officers at their posts--even the ones who didn't impress him much--and promoted the ones he felt deserved it.  Anita Chu Lai became a captain.

Then Purity of Vision III-Alpha was disbanded for good, its officers and troops reassigned among the new battalions.  One of the battalions had lost its major, leaving room for Nini to take over command.  She was more than ready.

On the briefing room's viewscreen she projected an image of the 'Mech Taggart had called the big Battlemaster.  With this closer look Geoff realized that the large gun barrels slung under the 'Mech's armpits were particle projection cannons.  Two PPCs and twenty LRM tubes was an impressive long-range arsenal. "This is the last operational prototype of the Alliance," said Celeste. "I feel like I've heard of it before," said Geoff. "You may well have, if you followed the press leading up to the Fourth Succession War.  The prototype Alliances were produced by NAIS as a misinformation campaign intended to deceive the Commonwealth's enemies about the date of the impending war.  The military press spread the story that a new assault 'Mech was in the works, intended to be the spearhead of the next Succession War.  The Combine and the Confederation were meant to conclude that the war was years down the road, since we weren't rushing the new design to the factories. "The propaganda worked," she said, "and the invasion of the Sarna region came as a surprise to our enemies.  The Alliance was never intended to see the light of day.  But one of the prototypes, the 2A, was one hell of a 'Mech.  I've been trying to get the thing into production ever since.  It was my baby; I designed the modifications that worked out the weaknesses in the original Alliance chassis."

Geoff raised a skeptical eyebrow.  "I can't believe Hanse Davion would leave an effective BattleMech on the drawing board."

"The earlier prototype that was most extensively tested was nothing special.  And the whole budget allotted to the Alliance was spent on the prototypes and the information warfare campaign.  There was nothing left for production, so the bureaucrats checked their boxes and filed the design away."

"You're here to see if Hollis will produce the thing."

"We're here to demonstrate what it can do," said Braver.  "The Corey factory is right on the front with Liao.  You're certain to see action here.  Give the Aces a subcontract, and we'll take the Alliance into battle."

"Once the Hollis people see the Alliance fight," Kelly Celeste said, "they'll be breaking down NAIS's door for the blueprints."

Geoff glanced at Braver, then back at Celeste.  "And you have NAIS's official permission to demonstrate the thing in real combat?"

Her face took on a devilish expression.  "As far as you know, I do."  As Geoff began to balk, she waved her hand dismissively.  "There's a paper trail.  It'll hold up well enough to exonerate you if anyone above my paygrade gets uppity."

Braver grinned eagerly.  "Shall we talk terms for the subcontract?"

John Taggart had been stewing in his seat.  He kept glancing at the hologram of the Alliance.  The man was a connoisseur of assault 'Mechs.  He'd piloted everything above eighty tons, and bragged about it constantly.

"Term one," said Geoff.  "John gets to pilot the Alliance."

Braver erupted with laughter.

Afterward the two commanding officers toasted their new arrangement in Geoff's apartment.  "It's going to be odd being the one giving you orders, LT," said Geoff.

"You'll get used to it," said Braver.  "Anyway, I won't be a lieutenant much longer."

"The Aces are expanding?" "I've had the money set aside for a few years now.  We've recruited most of the warriors we need and we're just beginning to order the 'Mechs.  The payoff from this contract will be the safety net, in case unexpected costs arise." "Well, congratulations, Captain." Braver waved off the sentiment.  "It's nothing next to what you've put together." "It means nothing unless I can keep it together." "This is a fine regiment, Geoff.  It could be one of the best in the Sphere, in time.  I don't think you have anything to worry about."  Braver managed to turn the last sentence into an unspoken question: was there anything to worry about? "More than you know.  At first I imagined ROM might let us go.  I hoped.  But they won't.  I'm supposed to be their spy now, Gideon.  Their informant.  Helping the people who murdered Audrey." Braver put a hand on his friend's shoulder as Geoff let his head slump.  "What about the diary you found?  That must be some leverage." "Some, maybe.  I can't tell how much it matters to them." "If it didn't matter, they'd have killed you already.  Don't you think?"

"Maybe."

"Geoff," said Braver, "you have to tell them about the Alliance."

Geoff looked up at him.  "What?"

"Report to them about the prototype.  They'll probably find out anyway, eventually.  If you don't go to them about this important piece of tech that's landed in your lap, they'll know you aren't loyal."

"You don't know what ROM is like, Gideon.  They hate the idea of the Successor States coming out of this dark age.  They'll try to steal it, or destroy it."

"So we'll handle that, if it comes.  The point is to buy you some time.  Tell them, Geoff.  The Aces and the Excaliburs can handle ROM together."

"All right.  But there's no reason I have to give them your name, Gideon.  I'm keeping the Aces out of it, if I can."

MAY 3037

The general quarters alarm here was obnoxious--Geoff Kenner almost hit the ceiling.  He could hear Dan crying in the next room over.  He'd have had to wake the kid up anyway, he supposed.  Geoff had promised himself a while back that he'd never go into battle without saying goodbye to his son.

When Geoff came into his room, Dan stopped crying immediately.  "You taking the Excalibur out?" he said.

"Yeah."  Geoff hugged him.

"Don't let the bad guys get too close."

By the time Geoff made it to the HQ, there were surveillance videos already running on the screens.  Nini Khumalo was there already, along with Leftenant General Wilcox.  Wilcox was Geoff's CO; the Excaliburs were integrated as a temporary second regiment of the Corey SMM.  Geoff liked her all right.

His first thought was to check the markings on the DropShips.  "Those are McCarron's ships."

"First Regiment," said Nini.  "They've dropped 'Mechs east of the Hollis facilities, with what looks like a pick-up zone ten K behind."

Geoff looked to the general.

"We'll get between them and the 'Mech plant," she said.  "You hit the ships at the pick-up zone.  Salvage is yours, Colonel.  Do this right and you can scavenge a DropShip or two."

She'd taken the safer assignment for her own troops, but she was right about the salvage.  To a young merc unit with too few ships, the risk was worth it.  It's a deal, General, he thought.