You believe I don't trust Geist and you don't trust Conal. Little do you know, Dan, that our feelings about both men are closer to your position than not.

Old Connaught, though only forty kilometers north of Denton, was separated from it by the foothills of the Clonarf Mountains. The mountains themselves, which formed a semicircle around Denton to the south and west of the settlement, were where the Kell Hounds remained hidden. North of the foothills stretched a broad river valley. Through the middle of it ran the kilometer-wide Kilkenny River. Twenty kilometers north, up a gradual and well-wooded incline, Old Connaught sat on the shore of Lachlan Lake.

Conal and the Thirty-first Wolf Solahma had been placed in the woods. They were close enough to the M-5, the major highway running south of Old Connaught, and the bridge crossing for the Kilkenny, that they could be brought into play if the Red Corsair landed north of the mountains and south of the river. Ideally, though, she would ground both her DropShips in the Denton area, leaving them out of the fight entirely.

"Conal has taken some satisfaction in the fact that he is defending the city, but only because I told him that a weapons subassembly plant was located there." The Clan Khan laughed lightly. "I would not worry, Colonel, the Thirty-first Wolf Solahma will not be a problem."

"I hope not, Phelan." Dan let the concern in his voice bleed out through his eyes. "I remember what they did to Zimmer's Zouaves. I won't let that happen here."

* * *

By the time the Red Corsair's DropShips had become visible, eight light 'Mechs had moved out of Denton and taken up battle positions in the Flats. Harry Pollard kept his Valkyrieout in front and raised the 'Mech's left hand when he thought he was far enough outside the fabricated town. "This is it, guys," he said into his microphone, but he knew none of the others could hear him.

The suicide squad pilots were a mixed lot, none of them spectacular, but all of them experienced. Three were old pilots who suffered from inoperable cancers. They had traded their service in the Hounds for payment of their medical bills and the care of their survivors. It was their chance to go out with dignity instead of dying by pieces in a hospice somewhere.

The other five were, like Harry, former pilots who had been serving long sentences in Arc-Royal penal institutions. The trade they wanted to make was more simple: survive and get pardoned. Any kills would be paid for with a 10,000 C-bill bounty—all of which would go to pay back their victims. It wasn't so much, but it was preferable to rotting in a cell.

Harry licked his Tips. He'd jumped at the chance to get back into the cockpit of a 'Mech. Even though his lawyer had defended him against a manslaughter charge with a plea that Harry had killed while under the influence of alcohol, Harry knew it was a lie. He'd rationalized the defense because the guy he had stabbed was a idiot and anything was better than being locked up in a cage that denied you your freedom. He jumped at the deal Phelan Ward offered him because it got him out of one cage and into another—a cage Harry thought of as freedom itself.

Clark, a rat-faced man who had once used an ice pick on someone who owed him some small change, had put the chances of their surviving longer than fifteen seconds at one in a thousand.

The odds were right, but the time was a gross overestimate.

Harry saw the Red Corsair's fighters roll out of their formation and set up on an attack run. With his left hand, he turned his 'Mech toward the incoming fighters. He swung his crosshairs skyward, but aimed below the line of attack on which the planes had set up. He watched the range counter as it rapidly reeled off the meters. When range dropped below a kilometer he punched his feet down on the Valkyrie'sjump-jet pedals and launched his 'Mech skyward. At the same time he saw a gold dot light up in his crosshairs and he hit all his triggers.

A suffocating blanket of heat cocooned around him in the 'Mech's cockpit as gravitational forces pounded him down into the command couch. He smiled as the LRMs streaking out of the left side of his chest corkscrewed into the lead fighter. The missiles exploded as they walked up and over the Rogue'snose and cockpit, but he knew they had not crippled the craft. Still, the boxy Roguebroke off its run and Harry counted that as a victory.

Triumph quickly soured in his mouth as the second Rogueand the pair of Tridentsfollowing it stayed on target. None of the other 'Mechs attempted his maneuver. As he watched from his vantage point, they did nothing while the fighters came in on their strafing runs.

The Roguelaunched two flights of LRMs that arrowed in on Clark's Panther.Thirty explosive rockets converged on the BattleMech and detonated. A bright ball of fire consumed him while shards of armor and missile casings spat out in every direction. With its edges curling up into itself, the fireball rose into the sky, then imploded into greasy black smoke, leaving a charred and battered Pantherin its wake.

Somehow Clark managed to keep the 'Mech upright, though the left arm hung useless at the 'Mech's side. The Pantherraised the PPC mounted on the right arm and fired back at its tormentors, but the blue lightning missed and sizzled impotently into the sky.

The Tridentspunished the Pantherfor its pilot's insolence. The medium lasers mounted beneath each wing and in the lead craft's nose created a wall of ruby energy that burned more armor from the Panther.As it swept on and savaged the other 'Mechs in the suicide squad, the second aerospace fighter pounced on the Panther.Its assault burned away the left arm and sent the 'Mech crashing to the ground.

Harry laughed as Clark went down. "Serves the stupid bastard right. Serves all those stupid bastards right."

Only when he began to bring the Valkyrieback to solid ground did Harry notice that the first Roguehad come back around for him. He glanced at his heat registers and saw that they were reading much higher than they should have. If he fired his jets again, he knew that the whole 'Mech might overheat and shut down. It dawned on him, as he landed the Valkyrie,that the Kell Hounds must have removed several of the cooling devices from his 'Mech, probably not wanting to waste heat sinks on the suicide squad.

Beyond the incoming fighter, Harry saw two OverlordDropShips preparing to land just outside Denton. Pointing his weapons at the nearest one, he got a weapons lock.

"Can't hurt, might help." Harry smiled and hit his triggers. "Better to die a man than live a rat in a cage."

* * *

Khan Phelan Ward saw the DropShip Lionesssettling' down on the outskirts of Denton and the fighters circling around for another run at the heavily damaged 'Mechs. The Tigresslooked to be headed for the north side of the plains, right at the edge of the foothills. Things were not going as well as he'd hoped, but they were not the worst case either.

He hit a key and Carew's face appeared on his auxiliary monitor. "Carew?"

"Yes, my Khan?"

"Launch your fighters now. Engage over Denton." Phelan hit another key combination and switched to a frequency Ragnar was monitoring. "Ragnar, stand by." The Khan watched the bandit 'Mechs begin to disembark in Denton. "It is time to reap the whirlwind."

36

Arc-Royal

Federated Commonwealth

11 September 3055

Harry Pollard's shining moment of glory ended when the returning Roguelaunched thirty long-range missiles at his Valkyrie.First he saw his own medium laser actually hit the landing OverlordDropShip and his LRMs scatter flames over its hull, then his world erupted into flame. His head slammed back into the command couch and stars danced before his eyes as titanic forces shook the Valkyrie.