Chapter 90: Contenders

  Rudy stretched. The Epee stretched with him.

  He nodded, satisfied with the synchronization. Boss's team had replaced some of the mecha's systems with ones taken from the junked nob mecha in the Errant Magpie. The resulting amalgam seemed faster, stronger and – maybe most importantly – cooler than either of its predecessors. It was a hell of a mecha. If Rudy did say so himself, he was a hell of a mechaneer.

  Plus, he had everything to fight for.

  No way he was gonna lose. Not this time.

  He stepped from the berth, testing the enhanced Epee's legs in the artificial one gee. It was no Stingray designed to operate in that environment, but, especially now, it could at least move. The arena, of course, was the natural near-zero-gee of Etemenos's uninhabited sections.

  “How is it, Mr. Algreil?”

  “Kicks ass, Boss. You've outdone yourself.”

  “I don't know why you won't find a better machine, if you don't mind my saying so.”

  Rudy chuckled. As if Boss wouldn't say so if Rudy did mind? He'd had nothing but contempt for the Epee from the first. “Hey, you’ve fixed the overheating problem, right? Nobody ever claimed this thing handles like anything other than a dream.”

  Boss grumbled something inaudible.

  “I'm taking it for a spin,” Rudy said. “Check out the competition, you know?”

  “You be careful, Mr. Algreil,” Boss said. “There'll be chances for accidents out there.”

  Rudy's chuckle died. He knew Boss didn't mean the accidental kind of accident. He knew the mechanic was right. The only reason Rudy wasn't dead was because the Senate hadn't figured out a way to make it happen without letting their public know they'd done it. “I'll keep my eyes peeled.”

  He stepped into a huge electromagnetic airlock. A few seconds later, the air had been vacuumed from it and the far field dropped. Etemenos's artificial gravity faded as well, equalizing the compression of the space Rudy occupied until he could move his mecha in its native environment.

  He jetted into the crowd.

  At the edge of his vision, he could see the stands, the Algreil Aerospace booth prominent among them. The Epee's camera zoomed in.

  Chloe sat there, flanked by her mother and Milissa. Ellie Hughes had apologized, but Rudy wasn't exactly sure what had changed her mind. Or if she meant it. He figured there were at least fifty-fifty odds she was just making nice to raise Chloe's spirits.

  Still, apology accepted.

  Rudy was just glad Chloe had her back. However mad Ellie had made him, her and Chloe's reunion was something Chloe had spent months fighting and praying for, and Principle knew he was happy for her.

  He'd just have to avoid his future mother-in-law whenever possible.

  Wouldn't be the first guy who did, right?

  Rudy realized he'd almost run into another mecha. The hell was he letting himself get so distracted for? There were dozens of mechaneers mingling just in the sponsored section. Rudy had enough wins under his belt – and, he figured, controversy surrounding him – that most gave him a wide berth.

  One didn't.

  Rudy saw the golden mecha drop down behind him and spun around, instinctively slipping into a fighting crouch.

  “Fast as ever, Crimson Phoenix,” Marcel Avalon said.

  “Divine Auric Drake,” Rudy said warily. He flicked a hand to his communications suite and Avalon's face displayed to his left.

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  “You don't look especially happy to see me,” Avalon said.

  “Fancy that. Guess I'm just not real fond of the Federal Navy's finest.”

  The admiral's expression darkened. “Ellie did not have a chance to tell you, then?”

  “Chloe's mom? The two of them were still catching up when I dozed off last night. Besides, she raked me over the coals for about five minutes, apologized for one and didn't notice I was there the rest of the time.”

  “She must be very happy to be reunited with her daughter.”

  Rudy nodded. “Yeah.”

  Avalon bowed his head solemnly. “I am happy for both of them. They deserve a respite after all that's happened. And all that's been done.”

  “What's the deal with you two, anyway?” Rudy asked. “You putting the moves on my fiancé's mom or something? Because that would seriously weird me out.”

  “It's nothing like that,” Avalon said. “I will leave it to her to choose when or if to explain...”

  Avalon's voice trailed off.

  He stared at Rudy long enough that Rudy started to shift in his seat.

  “Uh, what, Marcel?”

  Avalon said, “Your fiancé?”

  “Yep,” Rudy said. He tried to keep the dumb grin off his face. It didn't exactly fit his public persona to get all mushy. “I mean, in spacer terms we're only pledged. We won't be formally engaged until I get her dad off death row and get his okay, but that's – it's a technicality. She said yes, so it amounts to the same thing, you know?”

  If the smile Avalon was trying and failing to hide was any indication, Rudy hadn't exactly defended his public persona. Crap.

  “Congratulations,” Avalon said. “It sounds like you'll be very happy together.”

  “Thanks,” Rudy said curtly. The hell did this embarrass him for? He'd been acting like a Principle damned love-struck puppy ever since he pulled out that ring. He should have waited until he could put it on her finger himself, no matter what she said. Leaving it on the table and having to back away just wasn't how he'd pictured the scene.

  But at least she'd said yes.

  Rudy coughed. Time for a change of subjects. “What were you talking about Chloe's mom telling me, Marcel? Something about the Navy?”

  Avalon's smile faded as quickly as it had come. “I am no longer affiliated with the Federal Navy.”

  “Seriously? How did that happen?”

  “I decided,” Avalon spat, “to retire.”

  Rudy didn't exactly follow what the admiral meant, but the emotion behind his words seemed plain enough: Marcel Avalon sounded pretty damn bitter.

  Rudy said, “That... sucks, I guess?”

  “I am given to understand I should be grateful,” Avalon said. “You, however, seem to have settled on the correct description.”

  “Sorry to hear that, man.” To Rudy's surprise, he genuinely was, too. Avalon had been, and might still be, an enemy politically and a rival on the tournament circuit, but they'd always been friendly rivals before Wellach.

  “Your concern is appreciated, Crimson Phoenix.”

  “Don't mention it,” Rudy said. “Listen, Marcel, I don't know if Chloe will get the chance to tell you this, but – thanks. Thanks for making sure her mom got through this okay.”

  “It was the least I could do,” Avalon said.

  “And the most,” Rudy said, “is second place.”

  Avalon raised an eyebrow. “You think you will actually win the Etemenos Cup this time?”

  “Of course. I've got way more to fight for this time.”

  “For your Victor's Boon, you will ask for Jack Hughes's pardon?”

  Rudy nodded.

  “Then you are wrong, Crimson Phoenix,” Avalon said. “You and I have the same goal. Which is good, as I have no intention of losing to you this time.”

  “As if your 'intention' will have anything to do with it! I've beaten you before, remember? I can do it again. Hell, I beat the Black Rook. The Divine Auric Drake will be a pushover.”

  Silence fell between them.

  At last, Avalon said, “You beat Stephan Kyrillos.”

  “Uh,” Rudy said. Way to tell something that it might have been better to keep secret. He wondered if Avalon had intended to coax information out of him, or if he'd managed to fall into a trap that wasn't even there.

  No point in take-backs now. “Yeah. Kicked his ass on his home turf.”

  “That is... very impressive,” Avalon said.

  “What can I say,” Rudy said. “I'm a man of many talents.”

  “And so humble.”

  “When it comes to humility, I'm number one.”

  Avalon chuckled. “I will look forward to redressing the pecking order when we meet in the Finals, Crimson Phoenix.”

  “That...” Rudy groaned. “Principle, man, that was awful.”

  Avalon raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

  “Black Rook, Crimson Phoenix – pecking order? That pun could kill at fifty paces.”

  “It was unintentional, I assure you,” Avalon said quickly. Now who was embarrassed?

  Rudy had to suppress a grin.

  The former admiral pressed on. “I would never make such a linguistic connection. Frankly, it disturbs me that you would.”

  Rudy was about to respond, when something more disturbing than a bad pun silenced both of them.

  The mecha bay for the Etemenos Cup representative of the Federal Navy opened –

  And an organic-looking, ominous black mecha drifted forth.