HidHop-16

== Book 2, Chapter 16 – Old Grudges==
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===Growing Up===
Arc-Royal, Federated Commonwealth (Lyran State)
01/12/3052
MechWarrior Ranna Kerensky looked out the window overlooking the large town of Old Connaught, the capital of Arc-Royal and home of the Kell Hounds. In the foreground she saw the quaint cottages of Tersus Village, a quiet vacation and elder community tucked away into the hills away from what passed for hustle and bustle of ‘the big city’ of this agrarian world. A Kell Hounds dropship had landed hours ago at the starport on the other side of the reservoir from the town. Through her rangefinders she could see the tiny forms of BattleMechs marching along the reinforced path to the nearby Kell Hounds refit facility.
She leaned back in the chair with arms stretched skyward, “This place is so boring, Mack.”
“That is the point, cousin.” MacKenzie and Maeve Wolf sat beside one another, looking entirely to alike almost twins despite being years apart. A bottle of Cuchalain whisky, two partially full, and one empty glass between them on a handwrought wooden table. “Shauna will not sleep with all that commotion going on down there at all hours of the day. If my son and daughter don’t get their nap, my wife will make my life hell. 
Not a fun hell either, full of hedonism or all that, even though she’s Canopian. 
The bad kind! and I already have enough wailing and gnashing in my life as it is.” 
“Shauna is such a difficult baby, but you were too Ranna. I would try to sing you lullabies, rock you, none of it ever worked.” 
“Why do you have to make it weird all the time, Maeve?” 
Maeve took a sip of her glass, “I tried very hard to be a good mother to you, but I was young. Kat needs all the help she can get. Especially with Alpin, he is growing up to be quite the rascal.” 
Mack poured a small volume into the empty cup, “A chip off the old block as they say.” 
“Still the babysitter even though you are Co-Commanders of the Wolf’s Dragoons.” 
“Why not? All we are doing is waiting for the others to arrive, Jaime, Morgan, and Hanse are formulating the plan, we will just execute it.”
Ranna lifted the stool up and settled behind the now partially filled glass, “When is Phelen going to be free?” 
“Oh, do you miss your boyfriend, sweetie?” 
Both women stared at one another, “Just because you birthed me doesn’t mean to speak to me like I am a crechie anymore.” 
“It’s precisely because I did, that I can Ran. You were so cute as a crechie, blonde pigtails with ribbons, pretty dresses, the reddest little cheeks, it made me wish you were my actual daughter. 
You can be patient; I’m sure he will visit when he’s free. Unless of course you want to go down there I am certain your Uncle could find plenty of work for you to do. You know if you were available and not helping us babysit up here.”
Ranna paused and took a deep draught of the whiskey in her cup, “You know what…I have not seen Phelen in almost two years; and I just love…little stinky loud children, they just make me feel so happy!”
A women shouted down at them from the upper floor in Portuguese, Mack responded and drained his cup, “I knew you would come around.”
With a great cry a young boy with tousled brown hair leapt down the stairs into the common room. He paused to stare at and warm his hands near the burning wood in the fireplace. Then he grabbed the coat and hat drying nearby before running to the trio. “Papa, can Aunt Ran and I run around the mountain;” He made a shooting motion and 'bang' sound with his finger, "and maybe shoot some guns?
Mackenzie Wolf knelt at the boy’s side and stared at Ranna with a sly smile, “As long as she’s okay with it, Alpin. You have to wear your boots and listen to her though. Quiaff?”
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“How does he have so much energy?” Ranna collapsed into the chair beside Maeve, the bottoms of her jeans were coated in mud and grime from scrambling across the mountain with Alpin. Maeve poured her another small glass of Cuchulain whiskey as the fireplace dwindled and a candle burned in the center of the table. “He’s just one kid, I had to keep up with three in a row.”
“You had help.”
“That is what it means to be a Clan.”
Ranna stared into the candlelight reflecting in her liquor, “Are we a Clan?”
“Good question. ilKhan Showers likely does not think so. Although he has probably called for our Annihilation after finding all that Clantech when they got Phelen. 
The Lyrans though are quick to blame, just read the tabloid rags. Although they seem more focused on COMSTAR for now.”
“We are here to help though. Could they turn on us?”
Maeve sipped her own drink quickly for almost minutes, “Unknown, hard to believe they could pose a threat to us and our allies if they are so swift to flee in the face of our erstwhile cousins. Even if they do, the Wolf’s Dragoons have been through tougher times, and we have the support of the First Prince.”
Ranna looked out to the misty night, brightening slightly as a Kell Hounds truck rumbled toward, but then deflated as it passed them. “I am not sure I am ready.”
“Do you think Phelen thought he was ready when the Ghost Bears showed up out of nowhere?”
“But it wasn’t his family that stood in the firing line.”
“Any of them would have though, and they do so now. I think we have done everything we could to prepare, except” Maeve stood and hesitated before turning to the stairs, “You should try to get as many good nights sleep as you can until we leave. Goodnight Ran.”
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===Suddenly Challenged===
01/13/3052
Morning mist dissipated with the rising sun as a Kell Hounds’ truck navigated the switchback up the mountain beside a motorcycle. Ranna and Alpin stood outside the cottage as both vehicles turned the corner. Phelen Kell exited the truck and was joined by the motorcyclist, a woman with brown hair wearing the strangest outfit but walked like Colonel Akira or Yorinaga-sama. A green Keikogi-like outfit, gold dyed Hakama over them, a black belt with a Katana tucked into it and holstered pistol on the other side, and an ominous overcoat.
The strange woman stepped forward with Phelen at her ear motioning frantically, “Are you Ranna Kerensky of Wolf’s Dragoons?”
Alpin hid behind her as Mack, Maeve appeared in the door carbines in hand while Katerina motioned to her son. Ranna pushed him toward her and stepped forward, hands over her own sidearm. Phelen stood off the line but between them, “Who’s asking?”
“I am Diana Pryde of Clan Jade Falcon.”
Rann looked toward Phelen, “I heard all the Jade Falcons had been Absorbed, or killed.”
“It will be reborn after our Trial of Grievance. A duel in Battlemechs, Warrior against Warrior in adherence with Zellbrigen.”
“What have I done to warrant your Grievance Diana? We have never quarreled before.”
“You are the daughter of Star Colonel Natasha Kerensky, formerly of Clan Wolf, and carry her bloodlegacy.” Diana’s hands hovered over the sword, “As such you are the closest to a Trueborn Clan Warrior as any in the Inner Sphere including myself.”
“Have you come to finish us off then, Diana?”
“No, I am chalcas as well. I have betrayed the Steel Vipers with full conscience to benefit Phelen and the Kell Hounds. However, we Warriors must issue Batchalls against other Clan Warriors to be Clan. 
Only with our Trial’s conclusion can I prove my bloodrite, reclaim my status as a Clan Warrior, and the Jade Falcons rebirth as a Clan.”
“If I refuse your Batchall?”
Diana had a full hand on her hilt and pulled it out enough to reveal the Jade Falcon insignia engraved on it, “I will strike you down then turn this blade on myself.”
Mack and Maeve had their rifles up at the motion, although Ranna didn’t waver. “That is a bit extreme.”
“It is necessary.”
Ranna looked at Phelen, “You find interesting people on your travels, Lieutenant.”
“I’ve spent months trying to dissuade her, Ran.”
“I accept your Batchall, Diana Pryde.”
Her opponent stood, sheathed her blade, and kept her hands clearly visible, “State the time and place of our Circle of Equals.”
“Noon, tomorrow, Marrou’s Fens.”
“Bargained well and done.”“Bargained well and done.”
“I will leave to prepare for our Trial tomorrow, Ranna Kerensky,” Diana turned to Phelen, “if she fails to arrive, I may have to actually kill you this time, so keep your rede.”
“You don’t have to do this, Diana.”
“You are wrong, mercenary, and it is already done.” The Jade Falcon remounted her motorcycle and departed, Ranna waited until she was out of sight before collapsing to her knees. Phelen rushed to her side and embraced her before she completely lost her strength, “She’s so scary.”
“Why did you accept her batchall?”
“To see whether or not I am ready to face more than one of them.”
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===Wisdom gained from betrayal and survival===
The Ducal Estate of House Kell sprawled across the eastern edge of Lachan lake that provided natural beauty and fresh water to the inhabitants of Old Connaught. As agricultural Lords their buildings lacked the grandeur of the industrialists of the Lyran Commonwealth. Only the presence of the Kell Hounds provided anything close to industry on-world.
Diana Pryde sat on a mat over the rocky lakeside as the occasional shuttle flight soared over the Morein Hills to the Southwest. The basin of which held Marrou’s Fens where the Cuchulain distillery sourced the peat that created its distinctive smoky flavor. A twig snapped behind her, she drew, cocked, and pointed her pistol at the hedge. “Identify yourself!”
An old scarred and grizzled man with a shaved head and white beard stepped out from behind the hedge, he too carried a Katana and was dressed in red and black but not with a Kell Hounds crest, he bore none. In his hands he held a wicker basket. “Who would have thought you would be drawn here too?”
“Who are you old man?”
He stood tall and proud, “Yorinaga Kurita, perhaps you have heard of me.”
Diana decocked her pistol’s hammer and returned it to the holster, “Patrick mentioned you a few times during our voyage. 
In between pithy innuendo.
Do you bring more?”
“I bring only tea and counsel. He and I are as unlike as we are intertwined.”
“Perhaps I only have appetite for one.”
Yorinaga approached warily, “My tea is very good, though I am no Pillarine.”
“Is your counsel better?”
“More applicable perhaps. I was a creature of the battlefield and wished to learn more about you. The young lady of the hour, that carries a sword and recites poetry.”
“It needs to be done.”
“I understand.”
“Do you truly?”
“In matters of honor I am the expert.” He laid his sword down and sat down beside her, “The Mercenaries do not understand as deeply as I. They chose their path for a different type of glory than we have.” 
His black lacquered teacups had been repaired so many times that each was thick with golden Kintsugi seams, “In matters of betrayal and survival I am equally wise. I sense that you have trod a difficult path child and may have questions or regrets. Perhaps over time you will be willing to ask or confide them in me.”
“What do you have to gain from this?”
“An opportunity I was formerly denied.”
With extreme precision and speed he rinsed the vessels in the lake and returned them to his basket. She rose to face him as he moved to depart, “I will leave you to your meditations Diana with only one piece of wisdom to contemplate.
As an old Warrior I study history, young Warriors have the duty to make it. Do not look at what is behind for guidance when everything important lies in front of you. 
The past is a trap for the unwary.”
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===Trial at High Noon===
01/14/3052
Marrou’s Fen lay exposed before the audience as Ranna and Diana prepared for the appointed time. Clear blue sky reflected in the glass smooth knee-high standing water and stubby grasses. No birds flew over the Morein basin today, instead almost a dozen Battlemechs took a knee on the firm ground above Phelen Kell’s Wolfhound and the Dragoons the left, the others their right. None of the spheroid mercenaries thought about it, but the brothers Kell whose mechs were beside Jaime, Maeve, and Mackenzie Wolf looked out of place.
Ranna’s heart raced as her Warhammer strode into the fens. it was not the best place for footing especially in such a large mech. However, there was a clear pond in the center deep enough to submerge her mech’s legs within to improve her heat capacity. 
Opposing her was the raptor like Shinobi, all deadly angles and packed with the most advanced non-Dragoon, non-Clantech equipment possible for its size. She had heard about the design but as far as she knew it was still experimental. Fewer than 100 had been built and those had gone to elite commands within the DCMS and CCAF. It was perhaps the most expensive mech in the Inner Sphere that hadn’t belonged to someone important. 
There is no way an Exiled Clan Warrior should’ve been allowed to get one of them and it be allowed within the Lyran Commonwealth. “Who is she sleeping with to get a Shinobi?”
Her mission clocked flicked over to ’12:00’ and the Circle of Equals appeared in the AR, just another image conjured up and presented through her neurohelmet’s visor. Targeting sensors picked up the other mechs watching from above, her palms began sweating in the gloves despite the cooling fluid running through them, “They will just see how good I can be.”
“Target track, contact A-five-zero. Ignore all others.” Friendly contacts disappeared from the field with the Warhammer’s targeting suite focusing entirely on Diana’s mech. It leapt into the air, landing with impossible grace as her sensors detected a power-surge and thermal energy emanating from beneath the PPC over its shoulder although it quickly dissipated. “Capacitor PPC?”
The Warhammer trod forward into the terrain; a standing wave emanated from it brushing the bright green fen grasses beyond it. Her iPPCs were still out of range and this would be a slow progression. Ranna held firm balancing the Battlemech beneath her that was wobbling as if standing on a waterbed made of moss. 
Something seemed off, Diana’s Shinobi had an unusually low sensor signal for its size. At this range it should be plainly visible on the targeting scopes and her weapons should have good tracking. Ranna initiated a diagnostic of the old Warhammer’s systems. “There has to be something wrong with my scopes, but we double checked them today.”
She was rocked as the Warhammer sustained a direct hit from the Shinobi which had reappeared on her scopes. It had not only returned but was now bright white in thermals as the cooling network dissipated the heat from the PPC throughout the machine and into the water below. Ranna fired from the hip sending hyper-accelerated sub-atomic particles downrange in a torus of light. One connected, ablating away the gray composite that protected the armature below. The Shinobi was damaged, but Ranna looked at the blood red damage indicator on her mech’s right torso that showed a total breach in a single hit. Something that should have been impossible for even a Dragoon made PPC.
“That bitch!”
Ranna went hot pressing the offensive as Diana jumped away, her tracking systems struggled to find the Battlemech in jump jet plumes that sent up superheated vapor that cooled and settled over the fens like fog. Each combatant parting clinging fog and thrashing water as stray shots scorched the grass and started smoldering fires that failed to spread int the waterlogged land. 
Infrequent chips against the Shinobi occurred even though Ranna and her machine struggled to track the agile duelist who hovered barely within or just outside her effective range. Diana made herself a target only long enough to set up a powerful shot that rarely missed when it did fire though that event was infrequent. However, Ranna prepared for it timing her own firepower for maximum effect only to have Diana feign and prepare again preventing an easy tempo.
Their battle had been ongoing for almost an hour as Ranna set herself up in the central pond. Her Warhammer’s PPC concealed within the smoke and fog that swirled around her. Even with sensors degraded she knew that Diana was nearby, waiting to strike down at her. She intended to catch her on the wing just as she had been shooting trap with Alpin two days ago.
“Ranna ‘Birddog’ Kerensky it might catch on.”
Her controls were unresponsive as she tried to step forward through the pond to get a better firing position. The mud below held fast her Warhammer and began to suck it down. Their duel had broken down the fens’ natural structure until it was a quagmire that her mech could not clear. She had thought it would be quick, it had been anything but, and now her Warhammer had feet of clay and was sinking. 
Diana’s Shinobi appeared out of the haze, clear as day to her sensors, her capacitor was charged and now that she was trapped Ranna would be an easy target.
The radio was set to their internal channel, no need for her to announce her embarrassment to friends and family, “I yield!”
“Why?”
“My Warhammer is trapped and sinking into the mud. You have won.”
There was a pause while Diana’s PPC powered down and dissipated its accumulated energy, “Do you require rescue?”
“Are you offering?”“I am the closest.”
Ranna turned off the mic and breathed deep, “She just wants to gloat in person,” then returned it to broadcast, “Aff.”
She opened the cockpit and choked on the swirling smoke from the many small fires that smoldered in the fen. “Tastes just like Cuchulain,” beneath her the mud was pulling her Warhammer down. It would be difficult to recover but good practice for the salvage crews. Although Uncle Jaime was probably going to order her to power-wash it as her surkai.
With the cockpit sealed Ranna kept her balance on the narrow boarding surface as the Shinobi stood beside it extending a palm up hand to bridge the gap. Her cockpit was up allowing Ranna to see Diana shift her head to the side to ensure that her Mech’s hand remained as steady as possible. 
It took all the Dragoon’s courage to scramble across the mech’s hand knowing full well that her opponent could crush her if she wanted. Ranna hurried into the fold down jump seat and found a shallow clear plastic box filled with smaller bags containing small bones, intricate shells, shiny rocks, dried plants, fortunately dead insects, and glass beads, all of which were neatly labeled and indexed. 
“What is this?” Diana let out a sigh as her own mech struggled to clear the quagmire. “One of my specimen collections. Just gently put it into a cargo pocket, then strap into your seatbelt.” 
Diana grunted and ran her fingers across the function displays, “We’ll have to jump out of this fine mess you’ve trapped me in.”
“Language.”
“Do not start with me, Wolf.” Diana let out a whisper not knowing she was still on the Trial channel, “You are already as bad as the mercenary.” 
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===Claims of Cheating===
01/15/3052
The town of New Hannover was built around Arc-Royal Mechworks and directly attached to the Fred T Berry Starport via a railway. Trains and Techs operated at all hours transporting and upgrading everything imaginable that arrived from a constant stream of dropships. All manner of industrial equipment had been deployed to accommodate the overflow each protected by revetments from any hazard. 
A massive tent city had popped up inhabited by mercs and techs with dozens of colorful or well-known insignia and uniforms from the Northwind Highlanders, Eridani Light Horse, Hell’s Black Aces, Blackwell, Defiance, and Shengli Industries, Independence Weaponry, even Luthien Armor Works personnel were present on world with LIC minders. If it had ever featured in the AMC’s Wolfpack magazine, they were present on Arc-Royal as guests of Duke Kell.
Ranna Kerensky walked into Mess Hall C into the sparse company of fellow Wolf’s Dragoons, Kell Hounds, and members of the Blue Star Irregulars. Her palms slammed into the metal table in front of Diana Pryde who looked up from her breakfast of kedgeree. “You cheated!”
She saw Ranna’s blonde hair was still dripping, clinging to her pale skin, like she had just been rescued from drowning, in perfume it seemed. “You smell.” 
“That is because I spent all night power washing the sludge off my Warhammer, and all morning showering away the stench.” 
“Did you save any warm water for me?”
Nearby Hound techs excused themselves and shifted away from the women as Diana stood up, eating knife still in hand blade out. “If you did not want to get stuck in the mud Ranna. You should not have fought in a fen.”
“I talked to Skytower’s techs. There is only one mech of that type, that incorporates tech from Clan to Combine, in the whole of the Inner Sphere!” 
“You still had fifteen tons on me. I think it was rather generous considering Skytower’s weaknesses. 
Clan Steel Viper trained me well, maybe your trainer was lacking.”
The Dragoon leaned forward, muscles tensed, “My trainer was Natasha Kerensky.” 
Diana was red, still livid after being called a cheater, “Maybe you did not listen to your mother well enough then.”
Major Wanda Phillips of the 2nd Assault Infantry of the Blue Star Irregulars intervened pushing the two women apart with the muscled arms of an infantry commander. She kept her hand near Diana’s knife. “Knock it off ladies. We are supposed to be on the same side here. You are offending our hosts.”
Separated and embarrassed the Clanswomen calmed slightly, Diana left her knife on the table. “If you want a rematch Ranna Kerensky, then issue the Batchall.” 
“I want a rematch Diana Pryde, with you using your Ostroc this time.” 
“I accept your challenge. 
However, the time and place of our duel will be after the Clans are defeated. 
So, stay alive until then and get some air now, 
because you reek,” Diana looked down at her halfway eaten plate, “and have ruined my appetite.”
Ranna’s fists went white then she turned the air blue, in Russia, as she stormed out of the Mess Hall. Diana tried to fan the perfume away but returned to her seat. Wanda remained at her side, “Are you happy with yourself, MechWarrior?”
“Aff, I just got issued a challenge.” She placed her utensils on the plate and let out a sigh, “I just wish she had waited until I finished breakfast. Now everything tastes like flowers.”
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