Brother Keith slid the aircar down a small slope and into a broad arroyo. Sand and dust billowed up around the vehicle, but the cleric managed to keep ahead of the cloud. "Yes, I meant the 3016 battle. What really happened to Morgan?"
Dan hesitated and the seconds-long silence felt heavy and awkward. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to pry," Brother Keith said apologetically. "It's just that Morgan always seems so normal and friendly and open until the conversation touches on his past. I don't mean to suggest that anyone is trying to dig into his background ... Anyway, the history of the Kell Hounds is an open book. Open, except for what happened in that battle on Mallory's World."
Dan forced a grin but there was no smile in his eyes. "No offense taken, Brother Keith. As they say in MechWarrior circles, 'No autopsy, no foul.' What happened in that battle has never been a closed or hidden story." Dan's reserve began to thaw as dread drained from his insides. "You just haven't spoken to anyone who knows about it."
Brother Keith swallowed and steered the aircar around a huge Hydra cactus. "I must confess, Captain Allard, that before I realized my vocation, I dreamed of leaving the regular army and joining a mercenary company. I read all I could about contemporary merc MechWarriors. I devoured Jay Mitchell's book about the battles for Mallory's World. But his account of the final battle, in Hell's Anvil,seemed so unreal."
Dan sighed heavily. "Mitchell fictionalized much of the last third of the book. Granted that the Kell Hounds weren't talking much at the time that Mitchell was finishing up the book, and the Draconis Combine had scattered the men in command of the Second Sword of Light. That guy Mitchell ended up drawing on unreliable sources to create what he thought was the only possible explanation for how a single mercenary battalion could have driven an elite Draconis Regiment from the field."
Brother Keith nodded. "I heard and read about how good the Kell Hounds were, but I couldn't see how your First 'Mech battalion could hold off Yorinaga's regiment. It couldn't be done, no matter how much time you'd had to prepare or how good your defenses were."
Dan nodded. Those were my thoughts exactly as I watched their DropShips burning into the atmosphere above us. We'd already heard how elements of the 36th Dieron Regulars had pinned down our 2nd Mech Battalion far to the north. We knew there would be no reinforcements coming to save us.
"Mitchell was right when he suggested our defenses were good. We had created a situation where the Kurita 'Mechs had to come in at us in places where we had overlapping fields of fire. If you look at our defensive positions and the reported strength of the Kell Hound First 'Mech Battalion back in those days, and compare them with our reported strength after the battle, well, it looks like our defenses paid off. The big problem with that approach—the approach that Mitchell used—was that our 'Mechs were in the same shape before the battle as after it. We'd not lost any 'Mechs in the earlier battles, which is a credit to our Techs, but we weren't all up to full strength, either."
The aircar left the arroyo and sped across flat desert expanses. Brother Keith pointed toward a red mesa rising tall above the shimmering heat of the desert. "That's St. Marinus." He glanced over at Dan. "So, Captain Allard, what did happen?"
Dan shrugged heavily and winced as the slight pain from a recent collarbone break lanced down from his left shoulder. I'll tell you the part you can understand."Colonel Kell—Morgan— marched his Archerdown out of our defenses. He opened a channel to the Draconis commander, Yorinaga Kurita. In Japanese, after Kurita fashion, Morgan slowly gave an accounting of his lineage and the Kells' proud history as MechWarriors. It's an old tradition among samurai, and one still respected within the Draconis Combine. It honors the combatants."
Dan stared straight ahead while the landscape blurred past. "Yorinaga Kurita walked his Warhammerout in front of the Second Sword of Light regiment. In turn, he gave an accounting of his lineage in English. Once he'd finished, the two 'Mechs closed."
Brother Keith frowned. "Closed? The Archeris armed with long-range missiles as its main weaponry. Why would Morgan close with a Warhammer?"
Dan shook his head. "I don't know. The Warhammer,with its particle projection cannons, short-range missiles, medium and small lasers, is built for close combat. Morgan came in at Yorinaga, and never used his LRMs. He used the medium lasers in his Mech's arms and scored hit after hit on the Warhammer.Yorinaga staggered the use of the two PPCs so that Morgan couldn't rush him while the Warhammerran hot. He also used his SRMs and lasers to keep Morgan at bay."
Dan's voice dropped to a deeper bass rumble. "Morgan hit the Warhammer'sright PPC twice and it appeared he'd knocked it out. Then he moved in quickly, perhaps intending to use his Archer'shands against the Warhammeror to get inside the PPCs optimum range. That's when Yorinaga brought the right PPC up and its charging coils came to life.
"That bolt of blue lightning sheared straight through the Archer'sright shoulder." Dan stopped and his eyes focused distantly. When I saw that limb drop to the ground and Morgan'sArcher stumble to its knees, I knew he was done for. I saw the targeting image of his 'Mech fade from my scanner screens, but I never questioned how it was possible for that to happen. I guess because I knew it was some kind of omen.
"Yorinaga moved closer and raised both PPCs. He pointed them straight at Morgan's Archeras it knelt there helplessly. Somehow, though, the twin bolts flashed around the Archerand ripped jagged furrows through the ground beyond it. Morgan answered by triggering two flights of LRMs."
The cleric frowned. "But he was far too close for them to be effective, wasn't he?"
Dan nodded. "The flight was too short for the missiles to arm themselves, but that didn't matter. They battered the Warhammer,crushing its armor and bathing the 'Mech in fire as propellant exploded. Missiles spun the Warhammer,but somehow Yorinaga kept the 'Mech on its feet. Morgan's desperate tactic had failed to destroy his enemy."
Dan tugged at the aircar's shoulderstrap and leaned forward. "Yorinaga threw everything at Morgan's Archer,but it didn't matter. SRMs flew off wildly and exploded in random patterns across the landscape. Lasers and PPCs passed around or wide of the Archeras though Yorinaga had been blinded by the attack. His Warhammerwas definitely operational, but he allowed the Archerto struggle to its feet."
Dan licked dry lips, remembering how the Archerhad simply vanished from all their screens. Every ghost story he'd ever heard about 'Mechs piloted by men who had already died in the battle filled his mind. Seeing the Archerstand upright, he had believed that Morgan was dead and it was his ghost that now drove the Archer. How wrong was I?
"Morgan levered the Archerup off the ground with its good arm, then just stood there as Yorinaga's assault stormed around him. Morgan didn't return fire. He closed the LRM launch pods and opened the Archer'sempty left hand. Then, in a move both subtle and elegant, he finished off Yorinaga."