Archer cocked his eyebrow as he looked at the shorter prince. “You’re sending us into the fight so soon?”
“Not necessarily,” Victor said. Not the way you’re hoping…
“I’ll need a little more than that, Highness,” Archer replied. “Truth be told, my men are going to need more.”
Victor understood. That’s what I like about him. He’s a soldier’s soldier. “Archer, I want your men ready for a fight but they aren’t going in right away.”
Archer crossed his arms and leaned back on his heels. “Details?”
Victor shifted his stance slightly. “General Christifori, since you joined my cause it has been known that you have wanted my sister to come to justice.”
“Her actions led to my sister’s death.” His voice seemed to ring with anger.
“I know.” There was more that Victor wanted to say. The list of his sister Katherine’s crimes was long. The dead attributed to her arrogance was a list that was a scar across the shattered remains of the Federated Commonwealth, now segregated into its original Lyran and Davion halves. “It is a fact that is also known to Katherine and her people. Our own propaganda people have made sure that your motivations are well known.”
Archer said nothing. He was obviously drinking in the information that Victor was providing him.
Victor continued. “We are going to covertly reconstitute your regiment, the First Thorin, the Avengers. Officially we’re going to disguise you as part of the Outland Legion, a ploy of hiding you right under my sister’s nose. You will be seen meeting with a number of other regimental commanders, handing out orders, directing operations.”
“Disinformation?”
Victor nodded. “My intention is to create the illusion that you are going to lead the final assault to Avalon Island and the palace. There are spies everywhere here. Your successes in the past, my known pretense for leveraging people such as yourself to render justice—it will all play well with her intelligence corps. MI5 is going to believe that you are going to be leading the final push.”
Archer uncrossed his arms and rested his hands on his hips. “Permission to speak freely sir?”
His request caught Victor off guard. “Of course.”
“Sire, I didn’t come all of this way just to sit on the sideline and be a diversion or some sort of intelligence ploy. I have buried my troops all over the Commonwealth and the Falcon Occupation Zone. I came to put an end to this.” Christifori paused and let his words sink in. There was no venom in his voice, no demands. It was as if his emotions had been drained from him.
Victor understood. Like so many officers that had fought for him, they had lost a great deal—family, friends, livelihoods, all cast aside for him and his cause. Archer Christifori was not asking for anything more than what he had wanted from the very beginning of the conflict—justice.
“Archer,” he said slowly. “You have my word. You’ll be there at the end. There will be plenty of fighting for you and your troops. This isn’t just a diversion; it’s much more. You have my assurance that you’ll be there when the curtain falls.”
Archer sighed heavily. “Your word has always been enough for me. Very well then, Highness,” he said saluting. “I’m at your disposal then. Can you give me the details of what you have in mind?”
Victor saw a glint in his General’s eyes, something of the determination that made Christifori so useful. “Archer, it would be my pleasure.”
• • •
The Avengers, Archer’s Avengers, were deployed not far from their DropShips on a sandy plateau. Every time the wind swept their tents and ’Mechs, it kicked up tiny twisters of dust and dirt. The air was dry this season and each breath made the fine dust stick to the roof of your mouth. The plant-life was sparse in this area of the flood plains, mostly scrub brush and saplings. It was not the paradise that most people associated with New Avalon.
Archer walked over to the campfire near the center of the camp and as he approached, he saw his officers rise to attention. He gave them a quick salute. Formality of this kind was not typical of his unit. Must be the presence of so many regular army units…
Colonel Katya Chaffee drank down her last gulp of coffee, shaking the last bit out of the cup at the fire, then walked over near him. He would have called it a saunter, but there was nothing exotic about it. Months of being in the field and aboard a DropShip had forced him to forget sometimes that Katya was a woman. The look in her eye was enough to remind him.
Maybe if this war is ever over…
“General,” she said. “What’s the word?”
He allowed himself one chuckle. “The word? The word is that we are going to play a crucial and critical role in the eventual assault on Avalon Island.”
“That explains the arrival of five trucks loaded with replacement parts,” replied Captain John Kraff of the Muphrid Rangers. The Rangers had been the heart and soul of the Second Thorin Regiment…when that regiment had existed. The Jade Falcons had decimated its ranks. Now it was little more than a battalion of troops. “I don’t think we’ve ever been this well outfitted.”
“That doesn’t bring back the dead,” Katya added solemnly.
Archer had seen her gloom before. “Regardless,” he said, ignoring the comment, “we have some major operations to plan. The role of the Avengers in securing a beachhead on Avalon
