After a moment's respite, he crossed back to the lacquered cases. Gently folding his coat and boots, he fitted them carefully into the now-empty first case. After closing it, Ishiyama slid the case just enough out of the way so that it would still be visible. His guest would see it and surely wonder at what secrets it contained.
16
Echo V
Pesht Military District, Draconis Combine
1 January 3027
Jiro Ishiyama, tea master for the cha-no-yu,opened the second case and pulled a small gong and hammer from it. After carrying it to his place at the table, he set it where his body would shield it from the guest's view. Returning to the case, Ishiyama removed the kimono he wore and pulled on the black one that lay like a congealed shadow at the bottom of the case. Then he also drew from the case a black hood with a mesh front to hide his face yet allow him to see what he needed to do.
After folding his kimono and laying it in the case, Ishiyama pushed the case back alongside its companion. He left it open so that the white interior— not unlike an alligator's mouth—yawned open to invite trust and the contemplation of a journey.
Ishiyama crossed to his position and pulled on the black hood. Using a fir twig that he had carried within his kimono, he reached up to place it into the fire urn. The twig immediately burst into flame, filling the room with the scent the Coordinator so admired. Khiyama breathed it in deeply and settled back to enter a more contemplative frame of mind.
The peace he sought eluded him, dancing like a butterfly just out of reach. Instead, his mind bubbled with images from the many stories he had heard about Yorinaga-ji over the years.
A distant cousin of the Coordinator, Yorinaga had been a fierce MechWarrior and one of the few men to match Takashi in kendo,the art of the sword. Three years after being credited with Prince Ian Davion's death on Mallory's World in 3013, Yorinaga had been given the honor of leading the 2nd Sword of Light in an attempt to take that same world. Ishiyama recalled, too, the news reports of Yorinaga in action that he had seen as a child. He even remembered the pride that had swelled in his young heart, for he had idolized Yorinaga. The bitter taste of bile rose to his throat as he once again relived his hero's downfall.
The story, as Ishiyama had heard it many times, was one of honor, and it should have ended with Yorinaga slaying his enemy in grand style. The 2nd Sword of Light had surrounded the Kell Hounds's 1st 'Mech Battalion on Mallory's World and was advancing to destroy them when Colonel Morgan Kell marched his Archerout to the head of his force. In Japanese fashion, he suddenly began to announce his lineage and all the bold things his line had done.
Yorinaga, out of respect and honor for his foe, marched his own Warhammerto the forefront of the gathered Kurita troops and broadcast his own lineage and their accomplishments. All the Mech Warriors watching the confrontation knew that the battle would be decided between their commanders. Ishiyama had often heard the jest that the tension was so thick that the Lyran traders might have to come in to export it.
Kell's Archer,armed with long-range missiles and four medium lasers, conceded much to Yorinaga's 'Mech. The Warhammer'smain armaments were its two medium lasers and twin particle projection cannons, known commonly as PPCs. In a close battle, the Warhammer'sshort range missiles and two small lasers made it even deadlier. Everyone knew that the Archerwould die, and they hoped its pilot would die with honor.
By all accounts, the battle pitted two master Mech Warriors against each other. Kell did not retreat to a range where his LRMs would give him an advantage. Instead, he used his incredible agility to make his 'Mech a nearly impossible target, while using his fore and aft lasers to score random hits on his foe.
Yorinaga, as always, fought a self-possessed battle. He tried to concentrate his fire, as was his custom, on one part of his foe's 'Mech, but Kell's twisting and dodging made that difficult. Yorinaga used his medium and small lasers to keep Kell at bay while his PPCs cooled, and he staggered their use so that Kell could not advance while the Warhammerran hot.
Some observers had described the fight in terms of a martial arts match, while others had regarded it more as an odd dance-of-death. Ishiyama had tracked down all the accounts of the battle, which had so melded in his mind that he felt a perfect understanding of each move and its complicated nuances. It disturbed him deeply to understand the battle so well, yet not be able to understand how his idol could have met such disgrace.
Finally, when Kell's medium lasers seemed to have knocked out the Warhammer'sright PPC, he sailed in at Yorinaga. To meet him, Yorinaga's right PPC came up and loosed a bolt of argent electricity. The energy slashed into the Archer'sright shoulder, searing completely through it. Within a heartbeat, Yorinaga's shot dropped the Archer'smelted right arm to the ground, and the maimed 'Mech stumbled to its knees. Kell was finished.
Yorinaga's Warhammer,barely thirty meters distant, leveled both PPCs at the stricken Kell Hound. Silver-blue energy erupted from both weapons, but the bolts missed their intended target and instead melted sand into glass beyond Kell. Morgan Kell, in desperation, triggered two flights of LRMs, which sent forty missiles flying from his 'Mech's torso against Yorinaga's Warhammer.
Though the flight was too short to arm the warheads, the missiles slammed into the Warhammerand battered it savagely. Some propellant tanks exploded and washed the Kurita Mech in sheets of golden-red fire. Other missiles smashed and dented armor plates, or crushed heat sinks and shattered joints. Yorinaga's Warhammer,though it remained standing throughout the onslaught, might have been a toy abused by a hateful child.
Yorinaga trained all his operable weapons systems on the Archeras it rose to its feet, but could not score a hit. It seemed as though Yorinaga's Warhammerrefused to acknowledge the target's existence. Ishiyama had even heard the stories of MechWarriors present at the battle who said that Kell's dead Mech vanished like a ghost from their instrument readings. While lasers flashed and PPC lightning burned the air into ozone around his machine, Morgan Kell did only one thing. His Mech, though not built for it, bowed as best it could toward Yorinaga.
Ishiyama remembered the shock in the voices of MechWarriors who had witnessed the barbarian mimicking their traditions. They waited for Yorinaga to destroy him, then to give them the command to destroy the rest of the Kell Hounds. Instead, when Yorinaga's voice rilled their ears, they heard a simple haiku:
Yellow bird I see
The gray dragon hides wisely
Honor is duty
Some believed that the enemy's missiles had injured Yorinaga and that this was his death haiku, but it was soon followed by his order that the regiment withdraw. One Chu-i,a Lieutenant recently attached to the unit, protested that the Tai-samust be injured and out of his mind. At that, Yorinaga turned both PPCs on the Chu-iand melted his Pantherin a hellish whirlwind of lightning. All understood, then and there, that Yorinaga had some reason for his actions, and so they obeyed him absolutely.