Sortek's angry counterpunch slammed into the Awesome'sleft shoulder, stripping the myomer muscles from the limb, then snapped the titanium bone like a dry stick. The heavy limb spun off through the smoky darkness and blasted a hapless Pantherto the ground.

The Victor'slasers stabbed out from its left wrist to slash armor from the Awesome'storso. Metal steam rose from the lasers' ragged incisions, and molten metal dripped from the wounds. At the same time, the SRMs spiraling out from the Victor'schest exploded great craters in the armor of the Awesome'sleft thigh.

Sortek, fighting against the damaged gyro, boldly jetted his Victorto the right. The tactical shift caught the Awesome'spilot by surprise because few warriors ever expected an Assault 'Mech to be jump-capable. The Kurita pilot's attempt to pursue came too slowly. He hurriedly triggered the Awesome's PPCs, but only one of them hit. It lashed out at the Victor'sright flank and boiled away armor, but that did not stop Ardan Sortek.

Sortek's Victorcircled and closed like a tiger smelling blood. Two laser lances skewered the Awesome'sleft flank, eroding armor and washing it away in a flash of ruby light. SRMs drilled through the hole where the Awesome'sleft arm had once hung and landed inside the 'Mech's thick chest. The missile hits splashed coolant from shattered heat sinks throughout the 'Mech.

Sortek stabbed his autocannon forward and nearly touched it to the Awesome'swounded flank. The weapon's unholy metallic hail crushed straight through the enemy's remaining armor and opened a gaping wound in the chest of the Awesome.The projectiles filled the 'Mech with jagged, ricocheting shrapnel. Pieces of circuitry rained out of the wound amid myomer fibers and pulverized structural components. Worse, as the autocannon shells ate into the Awesomelike cancer, they consumed the fusion engine's shielding.

The Awesome'shead burst open. The pilot vaulted out in his command chair seconds before a geyser of silver-gold fire ripped up through the cockpit. Freed of all constraints, the captive sun that had powered the 'Mech now turned on its charge. Superheated plasma boiled up and out from the Awesome'sbelly. It grew and grew into a roiling cloud of golden energy, then exploded free of the big 'Mech's shell.

The scattered bits of armor and weaponry peppered the forces gathered around the Awesome.The 'Mech's right arm spun off in the light of the artificial sun and snapped a Shadow Hawkoff at the knees. Whirling armor fragments and the explosion's force toppled some of the lighter Kurita 'Mechs, while Dan fought to control his Valkyrieagainst the armor shards peppering it.

The Awesome'sspectacular death broke the truce on the battlefield, but it also shattered the Kuritans' spirit. As resistance evaporated, the Draconian assault withered. Delirious over the battle's outcome, but not foolish enough to pursue the enemy back inside the protective umbrella of the DropShip's weapons, the Kell Hounds allowed the Kuritans to withdraw.

* * *

Patrick Kell wiped beer foam from his upper lip and nodded at Dan Allard. "Your lance came out all right?"

Dan settled back against the couch in Kell's office. Next to him sat Salome Ward. Beyond her, Cat Wilson had perched on the couch's arm. Kell was behind his desk while Redburn, Sortek, and General Joss had seated themselves at the poker table. Positioned beside the door stood Major Seamus Fitzpatrick and Major Richard O'Cieran.

Dan nodded in response to Kell's question. "We beat those two Pantherspretty bad. I'm the only one who took any damage, though. A couple of SRMs to the chest as the Panthersretreated. We'd moved inside their PPCs' effective range, which gave the Pantherpilots a couple of targets that they just couldn't hit." He shrugged easily, and everyone understood that the damage was insignificant.

Kell turned back to Major Fitzpatrick. "Seamus, what did your flyboys find?"

Fitzpatrick, a red-haired pilot slender almost to the point of cadaverousness, smiled like a fox in a henhouse. "We had one company of Panthers,who must have been very green because they waved when we made our first pass." Fitzpatrick noticed the frown on General Joss's face and quickly explained. "We're flying aerofighters that we captured from the Kuritans a long time ago. With advance word on this attack, we decorated the underside of our craft with appropriate decals." Fitzpatrick's smile and easy posture admitted that the ploy might not be fair, but his company was attacking dirt-pigs, and everyone knew that MechWarriors would fall for anything.

General Joss narrowed her eyes. "I hope the tactic worked."

Fitzpatrick nodded enthusiastically. "Bagged an even dozen and came away without a scratch." The Major turned to Kell. "Rob Kirk got his sixth 'Mech in this operation. We'll need to set a date for his award."

Kell nodded and scribbled a note to himself. "So, Richard, did your men encounter any trouble?"

Major O'Cieran pushed a hand back through steel-gray hair.

This short and barrel-chested man looked more like a Master-Sergeant than a Major, but his talent for tactics and organization far exceeded anything an NCO might grasp. "No difficulties. As you directed, we rounded people up for questioning, but confiscated no broadcasting equipment."

General Joss frowned. "Isn't that irregular, Colonel Kell?"

Kell looked at his boots for a moment before answering. "That it is, General, but right now, we know who the spies are, and we are able to monitor their communications. They gave us the information about two of the three landing sites, and that's how we were able to plan our ambush. If we take the spies and their equipment, Kurita will just put more in and we'll have to find them all over again."

"What happened with the third landing site?" Ardan Sortek interjected.

Kell reached down and took a yellow sheet of paper from his desk. "The DropShip came down in Branson's Swamp. That's a bog about a hundred klicks north of here. It looks like the ship got mired and finally fought its way free."

O'Cieran spoke up. "A group of my recon boys scouted the area. Looks like a UnionClass ship. We found no tracks to indicate that anything got offloaded. Furthermore, our ground ops people reported that the ship's performance and acceleration profile said it came and left with the same mass."

Kell frowned. "How long was it down?"

O'Cieran's nod showed that he shared his commander's concern. "Two hours."

Redburn leaned his chair back. "Excuse me, sir, but we've got peat bogs on my homeworld of Firgrove. If the Kuritans used pumps to load water into their DropShip, wouldn't it have the same mass, regardless of what they dropped off?"

Kell chuckled in a low voice. "On target, Leftenant, as you were earlier this evening." He looked over at Fitzpatrick. "Did the Panthersjet out of the DropShip?"

The Major nodded. "Hung there like balloons."

Kell bit his lower lip, then drained the last of the stout from his mug. "We'll tighten things up around here. We have to assume that a full company of Panthers—at the very least—is operational and waiting on Pacifica. I'll have the computer section calculate the DropShip mass versus any configuration of jump jet-equipped 'Mechs to see what's the most horrible thing we can come up with."

The staff nodded their understanding, and Kell smiled. "Pending that report, this meeting is formally dismissed." Kell nodded to Ardan Sortek. "I now convene the first annual Ardan-Sortek-saved-our-asses party!"