 1st Kell Hounds Regiment |
 2nd Kell Hounds Regiment |
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If the road to Hell is indeed paved with good intentions, some of the contractors must be founders of mercenary units in the Successor States. With all the best intentions, countless units have announced their presence to the universe, only to end up either ignored or ridiculed. Within six months, most of these units dissolve in a flood of red ink or barely survive by accepting marginal assignments with unscrupulous patrons.
Occasionally, though, a mercenary unit formed from whole cloth manages to prosper. A grizzled MechWarrior intelligent enough to have outlived his peers usually commands these successful units, selecting its assignments with care. Twenty years ago, most military establishments simply added up the ages of the top two officers to calculate the strength of a mercenary unit. The rule of thumb ranked anything under 70 as less threatening than a group of toddlers touring a 'Mech bay.
In 3010, the birth of a new unit broke all those conventions when two brothers, ages 24 and 22, pooled their resources and started their own mercenary regiment. They named their unit the Kell Hounds, and mercenary warfare has never been the same.
In a universe where mercenary units usually start as companies and take a lifetime to build their skills and reputation, the Kell Hound regiment landed on its feet running. Mercenaries who first saw Morgan and Patrick Kell on their recruiting run to Galatea thought that these two "boys" had to be crazy. When rumors that they were offering above-scale wages began to spread, most veterans concluded that these two youngsters from Arc-Royal in the District of Donegal had "more pence than sense."
Bit by bit, the Kells' background became known. Arthur Luvon, the late husband of Archon Katrina Steiner, had been their cousin. Upon his death from cancer in August 3010, the Kells inherited a great deal of money, which they immediately decided to use to realize their dream of commanding a mercenary unit.
Arriving on Galatea in early October, the brothers passed the word that they were recruiting for a unit, but they did not hire any MechWarriors for awhile. After feeding their wage scales into the rumor mill, they concentrated on interviewing and hiring the best Techs and astechs they could find. Besides the promise of higher pay, the Kells enticed Techs by pointing out that their family owned the Eire Battlemech Company on Arc-Royal, which would provide easy access to parts to fix' Mechs. This promise was like water to a man in the desert, and it lured some Techs away from their current merc units, which were also on Galatea for recruiting.
By the third week in October, the Kells had corralled enough Techs and astechs to service a regiment. The mercenaries on Galatea knew only too well that a new merc regiment had trouble finding an employer, and most ended up disbanding within their first year. Everyone assumed that MechWarriors who signed with the Kells would get a couple months' pay, have their 'Mechs rebuilt by top-notch Techs and with new parts, and then be kicked loose as the unit collapsed. It looked like easy duty with many rewards.
The Kells, however, were not hiring just anyone. They actually checked references. Most MechWarriors who fudged their references only added a month or two of "transit time" to their duty logs to make their employment history with a unit seem longer and more stable. One man, Addison Garlett, bragged that he would "take these greenies for a rebuild of my Marauder, and then deal with them if they complain about it." To build up his chances, Garlett wrote on his duty log that he had served with Katrina Steiner's Fifteenth Lyran Guards on Hesperus II.
Morgan Kell found Garlett at The Powder Keg, a tavern well-known as a place where mercenaries came to be seen. Only 24 years old and with none of the scars of a veteran MechWarrior, Morgan looked like a puppy in the midst of a wolf pack. He wore a black jumpsuit with red sleeves and had his name embroidered in red over his heart. The inverted black triangles marking his rank, as Colonel were plainly visible against the sleeves' scarlet. Some patrons chuckled to see what rank this whelp had awarded himself even before he had a unit to command.
Morgan smiled easily. "Mr. Garlett?" Addison leaned back in his chair, raising his legs until his boots rested on the tabletop. "Yeah, kid?" he answered. Morgan pulled a sheet of paper from his hip pocket. "It says here that you served with the Fifteenth Lyran Guards on Hesperus II. It says you served with Katrina Steiner." Garlett, whose clothes were patched together from uniforms of half a dozen mercenary units, stuck out his jaw. Hooking his thumbs beneath the lapel of his Hsien Hotheads jacket, he smiled crookedly. "That's right, boy." Morgan shrugged sheepishly. "She says you're a liar." Garlett swung to his feet and cocked his fists, but never got a chance to throw a punch. Morgan's roundhouse right flew faster than anyone in the room could follow, smacking Garlett on the chin. The mercenary's jaw broke with a sharp crack, echoed a second later by the collapse of the table where he landed. Morgan crumpled the paper and tossed it onto Garlett's unconscious form. "Listen up, you 'Mech lice. My brother and I are hiring warriors, not chiseling vagrants who figure the Kell Hounds to be a paid vacation and a pit stop. You can join up and be part of something great, or you can sit here and tell others you could have been a Kell Hound." Morgan glanced down at Garlett. "I'm sure he'd enjoy the company."
Recruiting for the Kell Hounds went much more smoothly for the brothers after that, but the Kells continued to reject many candidates not up to their standards. They wanted experience and stability, but not so many years with one unit that a warrior was locked into one mode of thinking. Most of the mercenaries they hired were natives to the District of Donegal, but some came from as far away as the Capellan March of the Federated Suns. "They want talent, balls, and the brains to know when to use which" was the way one MechWarrior summed up what the brothers seemed to be looking for.
In November 3010, the Kell Hounds informed the various government representatives on Galatea that their regiment was ready for employ. Though they had no combat experience as a unit, the Kell Hounds did have a full contingent of 18 aerospace Fighters and a complete regimental complement of 72 'Mechs and MechWarriors for both 'Mech battalions. (Jump Infantry made up the Third Battalion.) They had their own transport, an old Overlord Class DropShip that they named the Lugh. They had contracts with other DropShip owners to move anything the Lugh could not handle, which meant separate ships would be needed for the Second 'Mech Battalion and the infantry.
The retainer they sought was high, but everyone assumed a prospective employer would bargain this fledgling regiment down. It came as a shock when the Lyran Commonwealth hired the Kell Hounds without questioning their price. Political enemies assumed Katrina Steiner hired the unit out of sentiment for her late husband. Other observers noted that the Kell Hounds had bargained with all five realms and might not be reliable for the Lyran Commonwealth, despite the Kells' ties to the Steiners.
In 3011, the Kell Hounds arrived on Tharkad, the capital of the Lyran Commonwealth, where they became part of the planetary garrison. The duty could not have been easier, but as the year wore on, the troops complained of the boredom, the lack of action, and the coldness of Tharkad City. Wanting to test their unit's skills, Morgan and Patrick decided to ask the Archon for another assignment.
It was at this time that they became acquainted with Cranston Snord and his Irregulars, another mercenary unit employed by House Steiner. Snord's Irregulars had earned Katrina Steiner's gratitude and admiration in the Battle of Wing in 3005, when they handed the Thirtieth Marik Militia a humiliating defeat. Since then, the Marik unit had tried to cover their shame with the boast that the Irregulars had been lucky to escape with their lives. The Irregulars were also known for their commander's never-ending quest for lost treasures and artifacts from mankind's past glory days.
When Snord learned of recent Lyran Intelligence reports that the Thirtieth Marik Militia was scheduled for maneuvers on Castor, it seemed like a lucky coincidence. His own intelligence had turned up rumors that a priceless collection of Faberge Eggs was also somewhere on that world.
Snord had come to Tharkad to request permission to raid Castor, but he struck up a friendship with the Kells before he could get an audience with the Archon. The three MechWarriors put their heads together and soon came up with a plan for a campaign that would give the Irregulars a chance to silence the Thirtieth, give Snord a shot at the Faberge Eggs, and give the Kell Hounds the combat experience they craved. When they presented the plan to the Archon, she agreed, adding a fourth objective of her own: the mercenaries must find and destroy a rumored stockpile of illegal atomic weapons on Castor.
On June 7, Snord's Jumpship appeared at Castor's nadir jump point and headed for the planet at 1G. The ship had been in transit for seven days of an eight day journey, boldly broadcasting its identity. The Kell Hounds' hired JumpShip had meanwhile arrived at a pirate point just beyond Castor's VI's most distant moon.
The Thirtieth Marik Militia had not bothered to alert the Marik High Command to the invasion, expecting to surprise only a measly company. When the Kell Hounds also showed up, the Militia's commander, Colonel Ruger Nage, almost sent out an alarm. When he learned that the ships belonged to "Katrina Steiner's lap dogs," he decided not to bother summoning reinforcements. First, he intended to destroy the Kell Hounds, then he would punish the Irregulars.
The Kell Hounds had not really been idle during their year and a half of easy duty. Rather, they had trained and drilled intensively to weld the regiment into fighting form. Clearing the DropShips quickly, the Kell Hound fighters picked off a Marik recon lance searching for the regiment's main body, then the AeroWing gave the regiment its own scouting report. In the words of Major Seamus Fitzpatrick, "They're coming in like a drunken sailor headed for a brothel-ready and willing, but hardly able and not walking straight."
Nage arranged his battalions so that the First and Second were driving forward like the prongs of a fork, while the Third Battalion brought up the rear in case Snord's Irregulars tried a strike from behind, as on Wing. The thrust was aimed two kilometers east of the Kell Hound position, where the Marik scout lance had last reported them. Sliding along the Militia's western flank, the Kell Hounds withdrew toward the north and west. Then, when the Third Battalion came into sight, Morgan Kell led his warriors into action.
At the head of the Second 'Mech Battalion, Morgan crashed his troops into half of the spearhead. When the Militia's First 'Mech Battalion reported that it had engaged the enemy, Nage held his Second 'Mech Battalion in place, expecting to be attacked in moments. His hesitation, though it did not appear crucial at that point, lost him the battle.
Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Kell drove his First 'Mech Battalion into the Militia's Third Battalion. Because the Third Battalion had been told to expect an attack from the Irregulars, the unit first reported that Snord had struck them from behind. Confident that the Third could handle Snord's company, Nage ordered the battalion's Second Company to encircle the Irregulars while the other two companies engaged them head-on. That move allowed the Kell Hounds to split the Third Battalion and virtually destroy the Second Company.
When Nage realized he had been tricked and that only one of the two Kell Hound battalions had engaged his First Battalion, he ordered his Second Battalion on a flanking maneuver designed to sandwich the Kell Hounds. Knowing that the company on the inside of the wheeling move would reach its destination quicker than the company on the outside of the formation, he held up the rest of the battalion until the outer company reported it was in place to strike.
The outer company never made it. Cranston Snord's Irregulars ambushed it as it swept around through some woods. The Irregulars ate through that company like gluttons at a bake sale, then started nibbling on Nage's own Command Company. In the meantime, the Kell Hounds' First 'Mech Battalion had pushed the Militia's Third Battalion so far that the Third found itself back to back with the First Militia Battalion.
Faced with a major defeat, Nage split his own company loose from the battle, and made a drive for the hidden atomic weapons depot. He planned to use the illegal weapons to destroy the two mercenary units and blame the detonation on the carelessness of one of Snord's scavengers.
Seeing Nage's Company breaking off, Snord reported to Morgan Kell that he had routed the Thirtieth Marik Militia and that his men were going off to search for the Faberge Eggs. Morgan Kell knew about the Irregulars' eccentricities, but none of his briefings suggested that Colonel Nage would turn tail and run. Kell guessed that Nage was headed for the atomic weapons. Nage raced to the northwest, past where the Kell Hounds 'First 'Mech Battalion was pounding the Militia's Third Battalion. Morgan Kell radioed his concerns to his brother, Patrick, who sent Major Salome Ward and her company, the Relentless Wolves, after Nage. The Relentless Wolves brushed aside all opposition as they pursued Nage. Aided by the Second Battalion's Long-Range Recon Patrol Lance, the Wolves kept track of Nage's every move. The LAMs of Captain Jeremiah Youngblood, commander of the LRRP Lance, scouted ahead of Nage's line of travel and spotted what they presumed to be the atomic storehouse. The LAMs attacked the depot, setting it afire. Seeing smoke rising from the site and knowing he could never find and assemble the weapons before the Relentless Wolves caught up, Nage turned toward the nearest city.
Nage abandoned his 'Mech at the edge of Alfagemini City and eluded the Wolves by disguising himself as a priest. In an incredible stroke of bad luck, however, Nage was discovered and captured in the city's huge open market by Cranston Snord, who had been searching for the Faberge Eggs. Nage killed himself when the mercenaries left him behind to answer to his superiors for the destruction of his command.
The Thirtieth Marik Militia, which had been created in 2980, remained only a paper unit from the defeat at Castor until after the civil war. It was later restructured into a light 'Mech unit full of new recruits. Because the Militia was still a relatively new unit at the time of the Battle for Castor, the mercenaries eagerly salvaged its equipment, and the Irregulars added nine Faberge Eggs to their museum at Clinton.
The Kell Hounds returned to Tharkad in the fall of 3012 as heroes, but their luster quickly faded as the Estates General discussed renewal of their contract, which was to expire in December. Frederick and Alessandro Steiner used their mouthpieces in the Estates General to accuse Katrina Steiner of nepotism and extravagant expenditure for mercenaries.
The Archon's supporters pointed to the Castor raid as a huge success, but other representatives minimized its significance. As one said, "Hey, even a blind seliogranth finds a lychee nut from time to time. The Kell Hounds haven't really proven themselves. They're just lucky." Debate grew hot and heavy. When the media showed the brothers Kell as guests at an elegant social event, the public began to wonder whether the mercenaries were, in fact, overpaid. What the critics did not mention was that the party was the centennial birthday celebration for their and Arthur Luvon's grandmother.
Katrina Steiner was determined to stand behind the Hounds when Morgan Kell surprised her with the news that the regiment had accepted a job in the Federated Suns. The contract would run until December 3016 and included a 15 percent pay increase. Prince Ian Davion's willingness to pay top dollar quieted most of the Kell Hounds' remaining detractors.
Assigned to garrison the agricultural planet Mara against occasional raids by the Draconis Combine, the Kell Hounds arrived there in February 3013. Things had been quiet for some time, but troop buildups in the Dieron Military District had Prince Ian Davion concerned. His fears were realized in May when the Combine dropped the Ninth Sun Zhang Academy Cadre onto Mara in what appeared to be a full invasion.
The attack was really a probe to prepare for a later invasion and a training exercise for the Sun Zhang MechWarriors. The Kurita Internal Security Force also wanted to gather data on this new mercenary unit, whom they assumed the Cadre would destroy without difficulty.
When the Cadre landed, they met no resistance. The attack went like clockwork, with the instructors holding the Cadre together as they traveled from agrocenter to agrocenter for a week, accepting surrenders as they went. Though they heard just enough about the Kell Hounds to be wary, the Cadre felt contempt for mercenaries.
Six days into the invasion, the DropShip Lugh blasted off the planet and sped for the zenith jump point and the waiting Kurita JumpShip Tsume. Broadcasting a message that they had mutinied, the Lugh's crew told the Tsume that they expected the Kell Hounds to be destroyed. In return for a safe passage to Galatea, they offered their DropShips to the Kuritans.
The JumpShip crew saw this as a golden opportunity. Students at Sun Zhang were bound to service in one of the Cadres until they earned their way out by an act of skill or bravery. JumpShip crews, however, seldom had that chance and often only matriculated after five or ten years of service aboard a "student" craft. They welcomed the Lughs surrender.
On Mara, the Cadre took heart from the JumpShip's message about the impending surrender, but it also increased their irritation with the Kell Hounds. With the enemy avoiding them, their chances for glory were nil. The Cadre therefore split into three battalions and went hunting.
The Cadre's First Battalion met a Kell Hound company in the rolling hills about 25 kilometers south of Wheaton, but the Kell unit melted away when pressed. Hungry for victory, the Cadet commander split his unit and ordered half of it to swing wide to trap the enemy company. It was a tactical stroke that would have made George Armstrong Custer proud.
The Kell Hounds' two 'Mech Battalions waited for the Cadre to trail Ward's Relentless Wolves into a broad valley. The arrival of only half a battalion caused some initial dismay, but the battle plan did not change. The Kell Hounds let the Cadre string itself out along the valley as the swifter 'Mechs raced after the Wolves, then they fell on the Kuritans like a hawk swooping on a field mouse.
The battle revealed a great deal about the Kell commanders' tactics and approach to war. The 'Mechs equipped for long-range combat, such as Morgan Kell's Archer, hammered the Kurita 'Mechs designed for close combat. The Kell Hound 'Mechs better suited to infighting, like Ward's Wolverine or Patrick Kell's Thunderbolt, waded into the Cadre.
The Cadets, inexperienced and still blinded by dreams of personal glory, reacted poorly to this calculated assault. A taunt by a Kell Hound drew a single warrior away from his supporting fire even though this exposed the Cadet to two or three Kell Hounds. The Cadre commander tried to withdraw his troops, but their line of retreat forced them through curtain after curtain of LRM fire. The Kell Hounds destroyed his command.
That night, as the Cadre worked itself into a frenzy over the losses, the Cadets received word that the Lugh was docking with the Tsume. Pleased that their unit Would regain some respect, the Cadre took pride in the DropShip's capture. The soldiers applauded their crewmates and promised to fill the Lugh's belly with salvaged 'Mechs from the Kell Hounds.
The Tsume's crew worked feverishly to open the docking bay into the Lugh. The Lugh's crew had overridden the pressurization-equalization circuit and had filled the Lugh's airlock with an anesthetic gas to a pressure of 10 atmospheres. When the cadets opened the passage to the Lugh, the anesthetic flooded the JumpShip. All but two of the 22 crewmembers present for the surrender were incapacitated by the anesthetic. The other two crewmembers secured the Bridge against the invaders, but enough gas seeped in to knock them out before they could destroy anything.
Captain Janos VanderMeer (affectionately known as "that old pirate") took command of the Tsume. He ordered the solar collector furled, and appeared to be readying the Tsume to leave Mara space. In a wide-beam broadcast, he announced that the Tsume was now renamed the Cucamulus (hound of the Irish war god) and that it would be leaving soon.
The Cadre troops tried to retreat to their DropShip landing points but found the Kell Hounds had anticipated the move and had cut them off. The DropShips diverted to the secondary rendezvous points and linked up with their troops, frustrating the Kell Hounds' attempts at capturing some DropShips.
Trying to recapture the Tsume, the Kurita DropShips burned out of the Mara system at 2.5 Gs. When they arrived at the zenith jump point, however, VanderMeer had already jumped the Tsume to another point in the Mara system. The Cadre's leaders suddenly realized what sort of trap they had fallen for. If they went after the JumpShip again, it would jump beyond their reach once more.
The Kell Hounds paid for a ComStar message to Luthien asking for a JumpShip to pick up the Cadre survivors. The Kell Hounds bragged that they could easily escape any Combine invasion. Such insolence would normally have brought on a Kurita strike, but Coordinator Takashi Kurita was preoccupied with plans for his invasion of Mallory's World.
The Cadre troops were recovered without further incident.
A mostly desolate place ravaged by war, Mallory's World is infamous for the battles fought there. The long list of the men and machines that never returned from Mallory's World reinforces the vision of a graveyard world where the skeletons of dead 'Mechs and their pilots litter the landscape. The hand of death lies heavy on this place.
-From Hell’s Anvil: Mallory World 3013-16 by Jay Mitchell, New Avalon Military Institute Press, 3018
Frequent raids had given the Draconis Combine a good picture of the defenses of Mallory's World, both in numbers of troops and in reaction patterns. The ISF became uneasy, however, when it suddenly lost track of a number of Federated Suns military units. Though the ISF did not know it, Prince Ian Davion was readying his troops for an invasion of Halstead Station, where he hoped to capture the huge new Kurita warehouses. With the intention of learning where the missing Davion units were, the ISF persuaded the Coordinator to invade Mallory's World.
Prince Ian interrupted his planning to respond to the invasion, descending on the Combine's troops on October 3, 3013, barely two weeks after the Kurita strike. His Fourth Davion Guards faced stiff competition from the Second Sword of Light, but broke the Kurita siege of Colterville by mid-month. The Prince then moved the Fourth Guards into the planet's desert region to track down the Second Sword, relying on the Seventeenth Avalon Hussars to keep House Kurita's Twenty-fourth Dieron Regulars off their back. Attempting one of their famous close assaults, the Seventeenth Avalon Hussars ended up being mauled by the Twenty-fourth Dieron Regulars. They fell back, leaving Prince Ian's flank open.
Ian Davion, who had left three regiments in the hands of his brother Hanse, refused to call up his own reserves. He wanted to leave them committed to a strike at Halstead Station, and made this point very clear in a series of heated exchanges with his brother. When the Prince pointed out that the Halstead strike would relieve the pressure on Mallory's World, Hanse reluctantly agreed. In a return concession, Prince Ian said he would ask for the nearest mercenary unit, which happened to be the Kell Hounds, to back up his troops.
It took the Kell Hounds ten days to arrive, in which time things had gone from bad to worse. The Twenty-fourth Dieron Regulars had slipped to the north and cut the Fourth Davion Guards off from Mallory's temperate zones. Airdrops kept the Fourth Davion Guards supplied until a raid by the Twenty-fourth heavily damaged the Guards 'air support. As a result, the Fourth Guards moved into the desert and began a desperate game of hide-and-seek with the Second Sword of Light.
Ian Davion, after days of a running battle in a labyrinth of desert plateaus and wadis, was trapped in a deep canyon that narrowed to a point where only one 'Mech could pass at a time. Knowing that the Kell Hounds were on the way, Prince Ian used his Atlas to hold off the Second Sword of Light. After defeating a series of four 'Mechs, Prince Ian's Atlas faced the Warhammer of Yorinaga Kurita. It was in this desolate place that Ian Davion fought his last battle.
Before the Kuritans could capture the Prince's body, however, the Kell Hounds arrived after two days of near-constant marching. They attacked the Second Sword of Light while elements of the Fourth Davion Guards recovered Davion's body. The Kell Hound AeroWing drove the Kurita fighters from the sky but allowed the Second Sword to retreat. The Kell Hounds withdrew to Colterville along with the remnants of the Fourth Davion Guards, and October closed with a stalemate on Mallory's World.
For killing Prince Ian Davion, Yorinaga Kurita was elevated to the rank of Tai-sa and given command of the Second Sword of Light, the Coordinator's own regiment. It was for that reason that Yorinaga, like all his predecessors, did not receive the rank of Tai-sho, or general. (After 3016 and the disgrace of the unit, the new Second Sword of Light commander did receive the rank of Tai-sho in an effort to distance the Coordinator from the scandal.) The Second Sword of Light was withdrawn from Mallory's World during this change of command. As a gesture of contempt for the Kell Hounds, the Kurita High Command sent in the Second Legion of Vega to help the Twenty-fourth Dieron Regulars keep their foothold on the world.
Hanse Davion, meanwhile, had learned from MIIO agents that Kurita construction crews on Halstead Station had located the remains of a Star League university, with a huge library vault among the ruins. Though the Combine reinforced the world after the discovery, Prince Hanse pushed ahead with his invasion rather than securing Mallory's World. In a series of tactically unorthodox and brilliant moves, Davion and his men reached the depot. The Davion 'Mechs scooped up huge sacks full of Star League-era books from the vault, burned what they could not carry, and tried to rendezvous with their DropShips. While Kurita fighters prevented a pickup, Coordinator Takashi Kurita led the Second Sword of Light on a hunting mission for Hanse Davion.
Though greatly outnumbered, the First Davion Guards, led by Prince Hanse, made a daring escape from Halstead Station when Aerospace Fighters arrived from the Federated Suns to provide a break for the DropShips. While Halstead Station preoccupied the Combine's leader, Morgan and Patrick Kell persuaded General Eugene Drivers, the Davion commander on Mallory's World, to strike while the Kuritans' attention was elsewhere. They let word slip that the regrouped Seventeenth Avalon Hussars were planning revenge on the Twenty
Fourth Dieron Regulars, The Regulars, who had not been reinforced or resupplied because of the action on Halstead Station, searched the planet for supplies, including commandeering the meager allotment meant for the Second Legion of Vega.
As the Twenty-fourth Dieron Regulars waited for the assault, the Kell Hounds, the Fourth Davion Guards, and the Seventeenth Avalon Hussars hammered the Second Legion of Vega. The Legion did not have a chance, even if it had been a seasoned fighting unit instead of a collection of misfits and rejects. In close-assault formation, the Hussars dropped in. As the Legion retreated in good order from that strike, the Kell Hounds and Fourth Davion Guards hit from both flanks to shatter them.
Realizing he had been made a fool, the Commander of the Twenty-fourth Dieron Regulars tried to redeem himself by leaving his defensive positions to attack Colterville. His troops dropped into the same position the Second Sword of Light had used when it besieged the city. When the Twenty-fourth discovered that the fortifications had been filled with booby traps, the unit began to withdraw toward its old defensive positions as the Kell Hounds and the Fourth Davion Guards pressed in. The Seventeenth Hussars, however, got to the Twenty-fourth’s emplacements in a quick and precise drop.
The Twenty-fourth, caught between a rock and a hard place, retreated off the planet. Takashi Kurita, angered by Hanse Davion's escape from Halstead Station and the defeat on Mallory's World, gathered his forces for a counterattack. Soon the Twenty-fourth Dieron Regulars, the Ninth Benjamin Regulars, and the Second Sword of Light returned to the fray. Hanse Davion reinforced the world with the First Robinson Rangers as a direct slap at the Combine. By doing so, he put the Coordinator in a position where he could only lose face if he withdrew from the fight. The Rangers, heir to the name of another unit that had been hunted down and destroyed by the Combine, itched to engage Kurita troops.
Hanse Davion realized the Combine could bring more pressure to bear on Mallory's World, and so he launched a number of smaller attacks on weak worlds in nearby parts of the Combine. The Kell Hounds' First 'Mech Battalion, under Patrick Kell, went to Murchison on one of these attacks, but it also had a secret mission.
Unknown to Hanse Davion or Takashi Kurita until later, not all of the Star League books on Halstead Station had burned. An MIIO agent learned of their existence after a sharp-eyed ISF Colonel gathered up the singed books from the center of the pile and sent them toward Murchison. The Colonel's plans were unknown, but the Kell Hounds never gave him a chance to carry them out. Patrick Kell set up an elaborate ruse that captured the Colonel's Union Class DropShip with the books on board.
The war on Mallory's World remained a stalemate for the next year as both sides built up supplies for a long campaign. In command of all Combine forces on Mallory's World was Yorinaga Kurita. Through carefully planned raids and feints, he learned much about his enemy and its positions. Because the enthusiasm of the young mercenary leaders had infected the other defenders on the world, Tai-sa Kurita decided in early 3016 to destroy the Kell Hounds and thereby take the heart out of the Davion forces.
Tai-sa Kurita used the Ninth Benjamin Regulars to pin the First Robinson Rangers at their base, Harrison's Ferry. The Twenty-fourth Dieron Regulars engaged their old foes, the Seventeenth Avalon Hussars, while the reformed Second Legion of Vega tangled with the
Fourth Davion Guards. The newly arrived Thirty-sixth Dieron Regulars attacked the Kell Hounds' Second 'Mech Battalion, garrisoning a town called Cactus Flats. The Thirty-sixth had lost a company to the Kell Hounds on Murchison in 3014 and wanted revenge. This left the First 'Mech Battalion, occupying the former stronghold of the Twenty-fourth Dieron Regulars, alone against the entire Second Sword of Light Regiment.
Morgan Kell, who normally commanded the Second 'Mech Battalion, happened to be visiting with his brother when the Second Sword descended on them. With the Second Battalion cornered and the Second Sword of Light preparing for its final assault, newly recruited mercenary Lieutenant Daniel Allard communicated through ComStar what he thought was his last message to his father. "3016 looks like a bad year for the Kell Hounds," it read. "If you have stock, sell..."
As the Second Sword of Light moved to obliterate the mercenaries, Morgan Kell marched his Archer out from behind the fortifications. With weapons pods closed, he advanced away from his own lines and then stopped. On a wide-beam broadcast, speaking slowly in Japanese, he carefully recounted his lineage and their brave deeds. In the fashion of a samurai, he offered a challenge of single combat with anyone in the Second Sword. Everyone knew only one MechWarrior would accept the challenge. Yorinaga Kurita stepped his Warhammer from the Combine lines. In precise English, he recounted the honors of his own ancestors.
There was no doubt in the minds of all who watched that Morgan Kell, whose 'Mech was poorly suited to single combat, was offering his life as a sacrifice for the lives of his people. His only chance to survive would be to keep his Archer back and pick the Warhammer apart with LRM barrages, but Kell ignored that strategy. Using only his 'Mech's medium lasers, he fought to get inside the Warhammer's range and engage it physically.
The battle, which has been described in many different ways, showed off the skills of both men. Kell, piloting the ungainly Archer, danced his 'Mech out of harm's way while stinging Kurita time and again with bursts from his medium lasers. Kurita's assaults devastated the Archer's armor but failed to disable it. Whichever man made the first mistake would also make the last in this battle.
After two of Kell's shots hit the Warhammer's right PPC, Kurita did not use it in the next two exchanges. Sensing the weakness, Kell circled to the left and charged. Kurita, having lured Kell in by feigning damage, brought the PPC up and triggered a blast that ripped off the Archer's right arm. Staggered by the assault, the Archer crashed to its knees and hunched forward.
The Warhammer, towering over the kneeling Archer, fired every weapon on board to give his foe a warrior's death. Inexplicably, the PPC blasts flew wide of their target. The SRM flight also scattered without hitting Kell, just as the Warhammers lasers and machine guns missed their target. It seemed as though Kurita had used up all his skill and could now do nothing.
Before he could launch another attack, the Archer’s LRM pods snapped open and fired twin flights across the short distance separating the combatants. The warheads had no time to arm themselves, but the missiles' impact battered the Warhammer, crushing armor and twisting limbs. The Warhammer whirled about, but Kurita kept his 'Mech upright.
Kell's Archer climbed to its feet just as Kurita regained control of his Warhammer and loosed another barrage at the mercenary. Again the Warhammer's assault missed its target, but Morgan Kell did not return fire. Instead, he closed the Archers missile pods, then forced his one-armed war machine into its best attempt at a bow to his foe.
That simple gesture did more damage than another missile barrage could have. With it, Kell acknowledged Kurita as his superior in skill but also declared that Kurita would never best him. To a warrior in service to House Kurita, it might as well have been a mortal blow. Any action against Morgan Kell after that would have dishonored Yorinaga Kurita and the Draconis Combine.
In defeat, Tai-sa Kurita ordered his troops to withdraw. When one Chu-i protested, Kurita destroyed his Panther with a withering assault. As his warriors withdrew, Kurita cracked open the canopy on his Warhammer and reportedly threw out the katana and wakizashi the Coordinator had given him. Takashi Kurita later stripped Tai-sa Kurita of his command and exiled him to a Zen monastery on Echo V.
There was a time, from 3016 to 3027, during which no Kell Hound, past or present, would speak of the unit's collapse. Ex-Kell Hounds brushed off inquiries with the brusque mannerisms of a politician not wanting to be reminded of campaign promises. New members of the Kell Hounds knew nothing of the breakup, which had reduced the regiment to a weak battalion. Older Kell Hounds, the ones left behind when the unit atrophied, never spoke about details, but they had an expression for that time. No matter how cordial my relations with an individual, the words always came out with disguston the mercenary's face and venom in his voice. The Defection, they called it, as if that explained everything
-From Mercenaries: The New Breed, by Jay Mitchell, New Avalon Military Institute Press, 3028
The disgrace of Yorinaga Kurita, instead of raising the Kell Hounds to new heights, began their slide to their lowest point. No one had been able to break the Kell Hounds by attacking them, but Morgan Kell's assault on his unit from the inside ripped it to shreds. In the six weeks after his battle with Yorinaga Kurita, Morgan Kell dismissed more than two-thirds of the Kell Hounds. In a month and a half, he stripped the regiment down to a 'Mech company, a Jump-Infantry company, and an Aerospace Fighter company.
When these many well-trained mercenaries arrived on Galatea to look for work, it created a sharp depression in Warriors' wages. These former Kell Hounds did not form their own unit, and only rarely did two Kell Hounds even sign up with the same unit.
Morgan Kell's bizarre behavior did not stop with the destruction of the Kell Hounds Regiment. Without speaking with his brother, his lover (Major Salome Ward), or the remaining Kell Hounds, Morgan abandoned his broken regiment and exiled himself to a religious community on Zaniah. It was reported that he traveled to Tharkad first for a talk with Katrina Steiner. Though no official records of such a meeting exist, Morgan Kell did arrive on Zaniah in a Lyran military transport. He then entered St. Marinus House, a monastery known for accepting ex-MechWarriors.
Morgan Kell's abrupt departure nearly destroyed the battalion he left behind. Patrick Kell, believing his brother did not trust him with the command of a regiment, sank into a depression, as did the heartbroken Salome Ward. A command paralysis set in and would have destroyed the Kell Hound Battalion except for the actions of three officers. Majors Richard O'Cieran and Seamus Fitzpatrick held the unit together, and newly promoted Captain Daniel Allard used his contacts with the Davion court to get an early release from their contract.
Morgan Kell's escape from certain death at the hands of Yorinaga Kurita had given him a premonition of death, the uneasy certainty that he was fated to meet Kurita again. He knew he could not tell his brother or Ward, for they would take out after Yorinaga Kurita themselves and probably die in the attempt to kill him. Morgan's defection was motivated by the desire to keep his brother and lover out of trouble and the rest of his warriors alive in case he should return to his unit.
XXII. The aforementioned nation-state hereby acknowledges the ranks of any officer in the Kell Hound Battalion and promises to accord that officer the full measure of respect due a person of that rank. Failure of subordinate officers in service to the nation-state to follow orders is to be considered insubordination and to be dealt with in a proper military manner. If such an officer faces a summary courtmartial and execution for treason at the hands of the Kell Hounds, this action is to be considered right and proper.
The nation-state also acknowledges Colonel Morgan Finn Kell as the Kell Hounds 'leader. If Colonel Kell dissolves the contract with the nation-state even without stated reasons, it shall be considered dissolved. All disputes concerning compensation shall be arbitrated by ComStar.
-Clause Twenty-Two in all Kell Hound Battalion Contracts
O'Cieran, Fitzpatrick, and Allard quickly negotiated a three-year contract with the Free Worlds League to hunt down Periphery pirates, When presented with the contract, Patrick Kell, who still considered his brother the Kell Hounds commander, insisted on the inclusion of Clause XXII and a caveat that they could not be ordered to strike at Lyran targets. House Marik, still recovering from the Civil War, agreed to these outrageous demands.
The Kell Hound Battalion arrived at the Tematagi system just as a pirate band was closing on the third planet for a water raid in early 3017. The planet's distress calls struck a chord in Patrick Kell and snapped him out of his depression. In a speech piped through the battalion's two DropShips, he told his men, "We're not a regiment anymore, and we never will be again. That means nothing, because what we are going to be is the best damned battalion in the Successor States. Starting now."
The first engagement, known as the Battle of Blood Creek, proved to everyone, except perhaps Patrick Kell, that the Kell Hounds' tactical and combat skills had not departed with Morgan Kell. Patrick Kell deployed his 'Mechs on one side of the creek, cutting across the pirates 'line of march. As the pirates moved into battle formation, the Kell Hounds' two DropShips landed behind them. The pirates could not retreat into the DropShips' fire arcs, and the Kell Hounds could leave only after driving through the pirates.
In the brief battle, the Kell Hounds destroyed more pirates than had all the Free Worlds League's previous efforts. Patrick Kell allowed some lighter enemy 'Mechs to escape the planet, a pattern he repeated several times in the next six months. As these survivors joined up with other pirate bands, they spread dozens of stories about the Kell Hounds' skill and ferocity. Halfway through their contract, the Kell Hounds became roundly feared.
Mercenary recruiters in the Lyran Commonwealth and Federated Suns had written off the Kell Hounds after Morgan Kell's departure, but one incident from their anti-pirate campaign raised their stock considerably. Two Periphery pirates, Gorman Toth and Hassin Hys, coordinated assaults on Mankova and Bismarck in such a way that the Kell Hounds could not stop both of them. Toth taunted Patrick Kell with news of the strike on Bismarck after the Kell Hounds had arrived to chase him off Mankova.
Instead of engaging the invaders, the Kell Hounds turned from the less valuable world and jumped to Bismarck. The DropShips then sped toward the planet while broadcasting a message telling Hys that Toth had sold him out. Hassin Hys immediately retreated out of the system and the Kell Hounds turned their attention back to Toth.
On Mankova, meanwhile, Gorman Toth and his 'Mech company raided like children let loose in a candy shop. Toth soon heard rumors that a Star League depot had been discovered during the Civil War, but that the citizens had kept it quiet because they did not want fighting over the regiment of new 'Mechs in the depot. Hearing that the depot had been located during strip mining, Toth's raiders headed for the mining area of the planet.
The 'Mechs that they found there were neither new nor a regiment in number. Rather, it was the Kell Hounds Battalion, waiting to ambush and destroy Toth's Legion of Honor. Though not all of the Legion's MechWarriors were slain, none escaped. The tales that swept through the Periphery were that Gorman Toth's people simply vanished.
Had Hys called Patrick Kell's bluff, the Kell Hounds would have been in a dangerous position. Instead, the battalion earned great respect for protecting Bismark and Mankova. When their contract with House Marik ran out in 3019, Houses Steiner and Davion bid for the Kell Hounds' services. Accepting the Steiner offer, the Kell Hounds returned to the Inner Sphere.
The unit defended the Commonwealth/Combine border from 3020 to 3023. During this tour of duty, the Kell Hounds captured the Kurita DropShip Karasu. The mercenaries' AeroWing damaged the Leopard Class DropShip while it was raiding Skondia. Duke Aldo Lestracle demanded that the Kell Hounds turn over the Karasu to him, but quick double-shuffling by Patrick Kell put the strength of law behind his claim that the DropShip belonged to the Kell Hounds. Because the ship had gone down in a small ocean, Patrick Kell claimed it under maritime salvage laws. The Duke argued that the mercenary/employer spoils-sharing provisions of his contract should prevail. No sea had existed in that place before the mercenaries dug a canal from a fjord to create one. Partly because he was still a Commonwealth citizen, Patrick Kell won the dispute.
The Kell Hounds pumped out and refurbished the DropShip, renaming it the Manannan MacLir.
In late 3023, the Kell Hounds accepted a brief tour with the Federated Suns. Based on Robinson, the battalion was reorganized to mimic a Combine raider unit and used in exercises to train Davion militia units. Some of these military exercises were so complicated that they became precursors of the Galahad exercises.
In 3026, the Kell Hounds returned to the Lyran Commonwealth. Katrina Steiner, aware of the grueling two years of service the Kell Hounds had just completed in the Federated Suns, assigned them to garrison a small world called Pacifica (Chara III) for the first two years of their six-year contract. She believed the relative peace of that world would give the Kell Hounds time to recover. She was almost right.
Takashi Kurita called Yorinaga Kurita back from exile in early 3027, assigning him command of a new unit called the Genyosha (Black Ocean). Composed of hand-picked MechWarriors from throughout the Draconis Combine, the Genyosha would be used to train other warriors to their great skill. Takashi Kurita promised that the Kell Hounds would be destroyed.
In a series of botched assaults, the Combine forces sent to kill the Kell Hounds lost two companies of Panthers and suffered serious damage to a third Heavy 'Mech company, including the loss of an Awesome. The Kell Hounds' only casualty was the wounding of Patrick Kell by an ISF commando, but this did not prevent the Kell Hounds from escaping Pacifica.
Knowing that House Kurita was trying to destroy them, the Kell Hounds shook pursuit by jumping into Combine space. There they discovered that Melissa Steiner, the Archon-Designate, had been kidnapped and was being held on an outpost in the Styx system. To make matters worse, Yorinaga Kurita and his Genyosha had just arrived to take charge of Melissa.
In a suicidal battle, the Kell Hounds held off the Genyosha long enough for Melissa Steiner to escape. Though the Hounds inflicted serious damage on the Genyosha, they suffered their own grave loss. Yorinaga Kurita destroyed Patrick Kell's Victor and killed him. Captain Dan Allard charged his Valkyrie into Kurita's Warhammer. That battle destroyed both 'Mechs, but both warriors survived. With their commander out of his 'Mech, the Genyosha troops retreated.
Patrick Kell's death brought Morgan Kell back from his self-imposed exile on Zaniah. Just before leaving the monastery, he sent ComStar messages to all the people who had left the Kell Hounds a dozen years before.
Most of the former Kell Hounds were unable to return. Some had died, and others had retired. Some sent their sons and daughters, and other old Kell Hounds brought portions of their new units with them. One former Kell Hound, Major Scott Bradley, had just formed his own mercenary battalion and quickly reached an agreement with Morgan Kell that designated Bradley's Bravos as the Kell Hounds' Third 'Mech Battalion.
The Kell Hounds were reformed only months before the outbreak of the Fourth Succession War. The Genyosha, in conjunction with the Fifth Sword of Light and the Thirty-sixth Dieron Regulars, attacked Northwind because they had been told the Kell Hounds were stationed there. What they found was Team Banzai, Bradley's Bravos and the Fifth Deneb Light Cavalry RCT. Because of an atrocity blamed on the Fifth Sword of Light, all three Davion units suffered heavy losses and were forced to retreat to the hills. They probably would have been wiped out but for the timely arrival of the Northwind Highlanders, four 'Mech regiments of great repute that had switched allegiance from the Capellan Confederation to the Federated Suns.
The Northwind incident and others that occurred in the early stages of the Fourth Succession War are sure to lead to a final confrontation between the Kell Hounds, led by Morgan Kell, and the Genyosha, commanded by Yorinaga Kurita.
During the Fourth Succession War, the Kell Hounds once more met Yorinaga Kurita’s regiment, defeating them a second time and avenging Patrick Kell’s death by force Yorinaga Kurita to overheat his Warhammer during the fight. Yorinaga Kurita commits seppuku later to avenge this dishonor, while Morgan stand by his side.
The Hounds have remained a formidable mercenary command ever since. After Archon Katrina Steiner’s death, Morgan Kell expanded the unit to two regiments, using a monetary bequest the late Archon had left him for expressly that purpose. When the Clans arrived, the Kell Hound regiments helped administer two of the Clans’ greatest defeats. The first occurred on Twycross, where the Hounds helped liberate the planet from the Jade Falcons. The second occurred on Luthien, where they fought alongside Wolf’s Dragoons to drive the invaders from the Draconis Combine capital.
The Kell Hounds have recently taken it on themselves to guard a large portion of the Lyran-Jade Falcon border, calling it the Arc-Royal Defense Cordon. No official declaration of independent rule has been made, and Morgan Kell has made no public comment about his actions, but Archon Katherine Steiner-Davion has publicly thanked him for accepting responsibility over the defense of the area. Keeping the Cordon’s defenses adequately manned, however, effectively prevents the Kell Hounds from contracting out more than a single regiment at a time.
PHELAN KELL AND THE WOLVES
Morgan Kell’s son, Phelan, was in the Periphery as part of a pirate-hunting team when the Clans invaded. Captured and made a bondsman of Clan Wolf, Phelan’s intervention at numerous critical times lessened the bloodshed and hardship caused by the Clan invasion. Perhaps most important, Phelan Kell convinced Ulric Kerensky, then Khan of Clan Wolf and later ilKhan of the invading force, to initiate the practice of bidding away WarShips, thus preventing another tragedy such as the Turtle Bay massacre. Through Ulric's sponsorship, Phelan was adopted into the Wolf Clan’s warrior caste, where he acquired the Bloodname of Ward and eventually rose to the position of Khan of Clan Wolf.
From this position Phelan worked with Ulric and Natasha Kerensky to uphold the Truce of Tukayyid and keep the Clans from moving forward with their invasion goals. When Clan Jade Falcon finally forced the issue, the Wolf Clan went to war against them.
Rather than attempt a total victory and risk the annihilation of their Clan, the Wolf leaders devised a strategy to preserve the Truce of Tukayyid and the ideals of Clan Wolf. Thus, Natasha and Ulric Kerensky led a massed campaign against the Jade Falcons, while Phelan took more than a third of the Wolves and moved them to Arc-Royal, where they now fight alongside the Kell Hounds as part of the Arc-Royal Defense Cordon.
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