AUTHOR'S NOTES: Ahh. I can't resist a cliffhanger, so you get a short 'n' sweet one today.

REVIEWER'S CORNER: SulliMike: No fair cutting and pasting your last review! ;)

FraserMage: I may have to post the stats for the Shruiken at some point. The Snowbirds will get their tank company in the next story arc.

4477: I don't know: A) tea and crumpets, B) Trial of Grievance, or C) yuri.

GreenKnight: Yeah, I figured you'd like that. Hopefully it speeds your recovery. As for your questions, the Snowbirds will only be gone for about two weeks on Vantaa, so the gains outweigh the risks; read this chapter; Chuck Badaxe hasn't lost anything (he's a rich guy with a cute girlfriend and an Atlas; he's doing okay for himself), he just doesn't like Senefa; and yes, the Shruiken is basically just a big Wolfhound. That's because that was the mini I modified to look like her 'Mech.

Kat: thanks. Haven't quite tied all the loose ends yet, though.

STORY SOUNDTRACK: "Spaceship in the Dark" from the Project A-ko soundtrack and "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

SDS Minerva, Lagrange Point Alpha

Vantaa, Clan Wolf Occupied Zone

6 September 3051

"What is it, Captain?" Sheila and Max walked onto the spacious bridge of the Minerva.

Captain Rob Baron turned around in his command chair. "Hi, Commander. I thought I'd better have you up here. We may have problems." He got up and walked over to the communications console.

"Uh oh." They walked over to join the Minerva's captain. Since Baron didn't have anywhere else to go and requested to stay with the Sentinels, and in recognition of his bravery in the Sharpsburg escape, Calla Bighorn-Vlata had promoted him to captain of the Sentinels' new DropShip. He had been working hard to get the Minerva in good shape since, and as far as Sheila could tell, had done a great job. Vantaa was still most of a day away, but it was already dominating the viewports forward. While it did not look as sinister as stormy Twycross, it still looked less than inviting. As Max had said, Vantaa was a planet best left forgotten. "What kind of problems?" Sheila asked.

"We just got a message from Clan Wolf Planetary Command. They want to speak to the 'commander of our unit.' That's not normal for just routine landing clearance. We're stalling them, but that's not going to last much longer."

"Oh, shit," Max said.

"There goes our surprise attack," Sheila sighed.

"In case I can't bluff them, I figured I might need you." Baron handed a headset to Sheila, motioned her away from the visual pickup, and pressed the talk button. "This is Captain Jaime of DropShip Eagle. We are a merchant contract ship operating from Kirchbach on a scheduled run. What can I do for you, Command?"

"This is Star Colonel Carmin Winson, commanding, 7th Battle Cluster." The picture on the screen was of a short, muscular man with gray hair and blue eyes. Sheila didn't like those eyes: they were those of a killer. "I am requesting batchall with the commander of your unit, Captain."

Baron put a confused look on his face. "Sir, I am afraid I do not know what you are talking about. I have no 'Mechs aboard. I am carrying ammunition and spare battlesuits from Kirchbach. My orders were given—"

Winson rolled his eyes. "You are not Captain Jaime."

"Sir, of course I am Captain Jaime," Baron replied, sounding increasingly desperate. "Have we met, sir?"

"On several occasions, most recently in my quarters," Winson told them. "Captain Jaime is a woman and a very good friend of mine. For her sake, and yours, I hope nothing has happened to her."

Sheila covered her mouth while Max covered his eyes. Baron looked to them helplessly. Sheila whispered, "Well, that's it," and leaned forward, into the visual pickup. "Star Colonel Winson, this is Commander Sheila Arla-Vlata of the Snowbirds Special Missions Combined Arms Team, Sentinels RCAT. Sorry about the subterfuge—your Captain Jaime is safe; she's on Kirchbach. You were requesting batchall, sir?"

Winson's face lit up with what looked to be a genuine smile. "Ah, Commander Arla-Vlata. I have heard of you. How is your arm? Healed, quiaff?"

One big happy family, Max mouthed at her, and Sheila smiled wryly. "It's fine, Star Colonel. We're here for the Vantaa Rangers. Perhaps you would like to fight a Trial of Possession for them?"

"The Rangers?" Winson nodded. "I see. Are they leaving Vantaa, then?"

"Yes."

Winson shrugged. "No Trial will be necessary, Commander. You are free to take them with you, provided you are onplanet no longer than 48 hours."

Sheila's eyebrows rose nearly to her hair. "Star Colonel, you mean to tell me you don't want to fight?"

Winson shook his head. "Commander, it should come to you as no surprise that my unit took significant casualties fighting the 10th Donegal Guards. I have taken further casualties to the Rangers. My orders are to evict them from our supply routes, and with you, that mission has been fufilled. Let them fight with honor on another field. I am granting them hegira—are you familiar with the term?"

"Yes." Sheila remembered it from Jaime Wolf's briefing. Hegira was a Clan term granting honorable retreat without further combat. The giver of hegira was acknowledged as the victor of the battle. "You must forgive me if I don't believe you, Star Colonel."

"Of course—but please realize, Commander, that I am no Jade Falcon. My word is my bond. Take the Rangers and depart Vantaa, in peace. I have no desire to take further casualties to my unit at this point in time. This is not a trap, quiaff? I would lose a great deal of equipment and manpower in destroying the Snowbirds."

Sheila put a hand over the microphone. "Get Senefa and Elfa up here," she whispered to Max. He saluted and was gone. "Allow me a moment to consult with my officers, Star Colonel."

"Certainly. Take all the time you need." Winson leaned back in a chair, looking entirely content.

Baron switched off the mike feed. "He can't be serious," he told Sheila. "A Clanner, refusing a fight?"

"It's weird to me, too. The bastard's up to something." They waited another minute or two before Max returned with Senefa and Elfa. Sheila quickly explained it. Elfa blinked thrice in pure amazement. Senefa looked at Winson's picture on the screen—he couldn't see her yet—and then to Sheila. "He is not lying, Sheila," the Clanswoman said. "Carmin Winson is known among the Wolves as being something of a maverick, but very honorable."

"Is he a Warden?" Sheila asked. Senefa replied with a nod. "Elfa, you think it's a trap?"

Elfa thought about it for a long moment. "Maybe not, Sheila. He's probably not looking forward to hunting the Rangers on their own home ground, in those second-growth forests in the Valley. The locals hate the Clans' guts. He could be sitting on that rock for years tracking them down. I wouldn't want to do it. We come along and offer to take the Rangers off his hands, and it's a win-win situation for him. He gets rid of the Rangers and he doesn't lose any more people in the process."

"And by granting us hegira, he can say he has beaten the Snowbirds," Senefa added, though she looked less than happy about pointing that out. She probably wants to fight the Wolves.

"I don't care if he tells his Clan buddies that he pissed on our battalion flag," Sheila said. "As far as I'm concerned, we get the Rangers off Vantaa and we win. Any chance he could go back on it, Senefa—maybe let his aerofighters ambush us?"

"Not and retain his honor."

That was good enough for Sheila. She reached forward and switched the feed back on. "All right, Star Colonel, you have a deal. We'll land at Lynchburg DropPort and bring in the Rangers. Do you have any forces there?"

"I do—two Stars of Elementals. I will evacuate them, say, ten kilometers north, quiaff? To avoid any unpleasant entanglements."

"That sounds fine. Bargained well and done, Star Colonel." Sheila decided it couldn't hurt to use the formal Clan acceptance. "I will communicate with you in twelve hours to update you on our progress."

"Bargained well and done." Winson also used the formal reply. "Twelve hours then, Commander. I will clear all traffic from your lane." The image derezzed into static.

"We're either incredibly lucky or he's one hell of a poker player," Max remarked. "Just when I think I've seen everything in this screwy war."

"I still don't like it," Baron said, taking off his headset. "Too easy, Commander. How do we know he won't pop us with aerofighters on the burn-in, or have a whole Cluster waiting for us at the DropPort?"

"Take him too long to deploy the whole Cluster. Anyway, we're not going to find out. It's only going to take us three hours or so to load up the Rangers. If he knew they were at Greenbriar, he'd have a hell of a lot more Elementals in Lynchburg. I'll call him when we've cleared atmosphere on the way home."

"Still don't like it," Baron repeated. "Not having a whole battalion aboard and a sitting duck until we land."

"We won't be. The plan still stands." Sheila turned to her officers. "We're still doing a combat drop. Winson may be telling the truth, but to paraphrase King Prias, I fear the Wolves even when they bring gifts."

Star Colonel Carmin Winson turned in his chair at his command post, a smile on his lips. "Well, Star Captain? What do you think?"

Star Captain Edwina Carns smiled back. "Well played, Star Colonel." She leaned against the console, looking at the holotank. On it was an expanded map of the area from the Massanutten Valley to Cold Harbour, with blue circles indicating where Wolf units were. Red dots indicated where contact had been made with the Vantaa Rangers, usually when the latter opened fire on Clan supply convoys. "We do not have to hunt the Rangers down, giving us time to rest before the offensive starts in the fall. We do not have to fight on the enemy's terms." Carns reached out and zoomed in on another long valley, the Cumberland, south of Lynchburg. "I noticed you did not inform Commander Arla-Vlata of the presence of the 133rd Falcon Fusiliers." A green circle lay in the Cumberland Valley like a dragon's egg. The 133rd was the last Jade Falcon unit left on Vantaa, obstensibly to police up any Clan salvage or Inner Sphere stragglers that rightfully belonged to the Jade Falcons. In reality, both Winson and Khan Ulric Kerensky suspected that saKhan Cavell Malthus was leaving the Fusiliers there as punishment, a reminder to the Cluster of the dishonor of their former commander, Senefa. Winson felt sorry for the Fusiliers; he had found their new commander, Athena Henderson, irascible and crude, befitting a woman known even among the Clans as the Butcher of Front Royal. While the Fusiliers' mission was only to have taken a month or less, Henderson had been dragging her feet, obviously waiting for an opening to attack the Wolves. Winson was sure that when Dwillt Radick's 16th Battle Cluster would be redeployed for the coming offensive in a few weeks, Henderson would make her move.

"Neg. Why should I?"

"It does seem somewhat dishonorable."

"True…but Arla-Vlata did use false colors, and she will undoubtedly still make a combat drop. I see no reason to squander a perfect opportunity to watch our enemies kill each other." He turned to a tech. "Please get me Star Colonel Athena Henderson at Charlotte." He grinned at Carns.