BattleTech: If Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot…: A Kell Hounds Story, #4 by Michael A. Stackpole

Author:Michael A. Stackpole
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
Published: 2023-11-27T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 23

FIRST URSA MAJOR MILITIA BASE

AK-DEUCE, DUBHE

SILVER HAWKS COALITION

FREE WORLDS LEAGUE

15 MAY 3010, 0630 HOURS, WESTERN COASTAL TIME

The First Ursa Major Militia Battalion, known colloquially as “the Plushies,” had long been a volunteer organization in which members served for five years as a rite of passage. Annually, they organized a holiday toy drive which collected enough presents to warrant a BattleMech or two pulling dumpsters full of toys as reindeer might draw a sleigh for Santa Claus in a parade. In addition, the Plushies helped harvest surplus farmland and bring the crops to food banks as a hedge against disaster during the storm season. They were aided in this function by the fact that refurbished AgroMechs made up one whole company of the battalion.

Of the current roster, exactly three members, all brand new, had actually seen combat. This trio coyly described their combat experience, withholding details because “things are still classified.” Still, they brought their own ’Mechs, which had clearly seen some action.

The pilots—two men and one woman—took up residence in the militia compound permanently, and kept largely to themselves. The rest of the militia in residence were a half dozen pilots on a two-week rotation which would consist of diligent inspection of the base for leaks as the season’s storms rolled in from the west.

Morgan Kell’s awareness of these facts came from a Lyran Intelligence report on Dubhe. What the report didn’t mention was that the trio of newcomers had most recently been members of the Ion Knights. Why they chose Dubhe to run to ground on Morgan couldn’t imagine, save perhaps that they chose it by random because the world’s only virtue appeared to be its self-sufficiency. Dubhe’s strongest exports were coins and postage stamps, which they produced exclusively for the collectors’ market—a market which was as lucrative as it was small.

The circular base consisted of several ferrocrete domes, the largest being at the circle’s westernmost point. It served as a windbreak for the smaller administrative dome and the half dozen service and residential domes which surrounded the perimeter. Unlike the large, solid dome, the smaller ones had retractable roofs that would let in sunshine during more temperate seasons.

As the Kell Hounds’ Overlord-Class DropShip landed west of the big dome, two of its particle projection cannons hurled bolts of artificial lightning. The twin azure beams slashed through the base’s external ’Mech bay door. They began its destruction, and the hurricane’s winds swiftly finished it. Then a quartet of scarlet laser beams poured through the opening and took down the internal door.

Morgan’s Archer lumbered out of the DropShip and sprinted toward the smoking bay doors. Despite the rain and debris swirling in the air, there could be no missing the Archer, with its torso, head, and arms bright red, and legs painted black, with a wolf’s-head logo on the left breast over the LRM launcher cover. Cat Wilson’s Marauder came up fast in support, while Tim Moriarty’s speedier Centurion made it to the doorway before either of them.

Morgan brought the humanoid ’Mech into the large dome on Moriarty’s heels.

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