They dressed quickly, and were pulling on boots and jackets when the pounding on the door began. "This way," Lori said. Slipping through the glass door on the other side of the apartment, they passed into the enclosed patio behind the building, and made their way rapidly across the street toward the Lancers' HQ.
There was sporadic and nagging gunfire in front of the old Militia armory, but no sign of a major assault. Troops, both Militia and Guards, were moving through streets already clogged with panicking civilians, and there seemed to be no organization to either group's movements at all.
Captain Tor met Lori and Garik at the door to the armory, an MP-20 in his hand. Behind him was Sergeant Ramage, coatless and carrying a TK. Ramage was shivering with cold.
"Lori!" Tor exclaimed "You're safe!"
Even Ramage looked relieved. While not outwardly opposing Lori's position in the unit, Sergeant Ramage had remained carefully neutral toward her. He grinned at Lori now, and said, "We were about to come for you. We'd heard the Guards had been sent to get you."
"But how?"
Ramage jerked his head toward the armory HQ. "We've got the Locust command net radio tuned into their operations frequency. It's a general rising by the Guards. Minister Stannic has proclaimed himself King, and no one knows what's happened to Jeverid. The trouble began when Guard units began disarming the Militia."
"What about the Lancers?"
"The order came down about an hour ago. We're to stand down and wait for Captain Nolem to take charge of us. Seems we're being transferred to the Dracos."
"The Dracos!"
"Lori," Tor said, worry creasing his face. "There's worse. They've got the Lieutenant. We intercepted a report that he was being taken to Guards HQ across from the Palace."
No matter what mixture of hurt and anger she was feeling toward Grayson, she certainly wouldn't stand by while the Guards marched him off to their cells. It was all too likely that Grayson Death Carlyle would never reappear once they got him inside that HQ.
She looked up at Tor. "Ren... is the Locust ready?"
"We warmed her up when we started eavesdropping. Why?"
"Listen, get in touch with as many of our people as you can." Then she gave rapid-fire instructions to Ramage and Tor. The unit had to be rallied, the Stinger and Wasp powered up and taken out of the city. She wasn't sure yet where they would go. Perhaps into the mountains. Damn, she thought, if only Grayson were here. He knew this land, knew the terrain and where they might be able to hide. One thing was certain, however. They couldn't stay where they were.
"Sergeant, Captain Tor... I'm counting on you. Get everyone you can back here to the HQ, set up a perimeter, and hold it. Send out all
the hovercraft we've got to get our people. The city is going to be up for grabs for hours yet, so you ought to be able to get through. Don't fight with the Guard. Just try to avoid them. And call Corporal Yee. Have him assemble a squad for a 'Mech ground support mission."
"Where are you going?" Ramage looked worried.
Lori didn't answer. She was already sprinting toward the Locust.
* * * *
A Guards squad had escorted Grayson across the Palace grounds and a street crowded with people to the Royal Guards headquarters building on the Hub. There were jail cells in the basement, and a platoon-strength patrol of armed and armored Guardsmen pacing the grounds outside.
As he was being led down the steps, Grayson could hear a public address system somewhere in the distance braying the news that Trellwan was now part of the glorious brotherhood of the Draconis Combine. The people were being told to disperse, to return to their homes and listen for further news on their visors. The crowds, however, showed no signs of being ready to disperse.
His cell was reasonably clean, and was furnished with a sink, toilet, bunk, chair, and table. The bare electric bulb that dangled from the cell's high ceiling cast a harsh yellow light over the thick stone walls, which were broken only by a latticework of electronically locked steel bars. Grayson knew he would not be going out that way without permission.
He sat down heavily on the bunk, feeling tiredness like a heavy pack across his shoulders. To think that Stannic was now King of Trellwan! Grayson realized that the Chief Minister must have been working toward that goal all along, with the Lancers and himself simply two more pawns in his struggle to consolidate power. Somehow, the knowledge that he had been used did not pain him so much as his regret at not being able to continue the campaign against his father's murderers. That was what grated on his soul and left him in a rage of frustration.
Word had come that Hendrik's pirates had surrendered the Castle rather than fight with the regiment of modern, well-equipped BattleMechs now disembarking at the spaceport. Even knowledge that the pirates were defeated, prisoners now, did not help. Grayson's right fist impacted with his left palm in an anguished smack. He'd wanted to take down that Marauder himself. It didn't help to remember that not even his three light 'Mechs could have accomplished that