Warrior: En Garde

The Victorwas slowly cooking its pilot. "No!" Dan set his Valkyrieoff at a dead run. Patrick, I won't let him do this to you!

Dan watched with horror as the Victorignored the Warhammer.

It blasted another Pantherinto spare parts with its autoca

Four SRMs blasted into the Valkyrieas Dan streaked across the ferrocrete bay. The missiles exploded against his right arm and twisted his 'Mech around with the sheer violence of their assault. Fragments of armor trailed behind him, but a quick glance at the control console told Dan that his medium laser was still working. He used the spin the missile hits had given his 'Mech, and kept on ru

The Warhammeragain fired at the Victor,sending both beams lashing across the Victor'schest. Chunks of armor rode jagged blue spikes of lightning out and away from the assault 'Mech. They crashed smoking to the ferrocrete deck as though the hu-manoid 'Mech were a medieval knight shedding his breastplate. As the motor fell away, it left the Victor's chest, already burned by the first bolt, open and vulnerable.

Dan saw the PPC bolt out of the comer of his eye, but it was too late to do anything. The turquoise shaft of man-made lightning vaporized the Valkyrie'sright arm. Unbalanced, the Valkyriebegan to fall, but Dan pushed off the ferrocrete floor with the Mech's left hand and righted himself. Nothing will stop me.

Dan flipped the cover off a switch on his command console. He snapped the silvery toggle to the left, then punched the round red button glowing to life beneath it.

"Ten seconds to abort sequence," the computer informed him.

"Negative!" Dan slid his left hand down and armed his command chair's eject option. "Ejection on verbal."

The thunder of blood pumping against his ears drowned out the computer's acknowledgement of his command. "No, Patrick! No!" he screamed in rage. "You have to fight it!"

As though to prove what might have been, the Victor's autoca

Released from slavery, the dwarf star that had powered the Victorgnawed at its master's vitals. The radiation detectors on Dan's command console shot into the red zone immediately, and a heat silhouette whitewashed the Victor.The SRMs stored in its left shoulder ignited in the heat and were soon joined by a rolling series of explosions from what little autoca

The Victor'sfaceplate exploded outward, but Dan cheered when he saw Patrick's command chair blast free of his doomed 'Mech. The chair righted itself on tiny jets, but did not rise quickly enough away from the Victor. Ahorrendous explosion shuddered the assault 'Mech and vomited a gout of fire and shrapnel through the Victor'sopen face. It caught the command chair and swatted it down.

No!Dan looked away from the dying Victor,and despite the tears of anger and pain blurring his vision, he centered the Warhammer'sbroad back in his viewplate. You son of a bitch! I'll give you payback!Dan hit his jump jets and rolled the Valkyrie'shead 180 degrees. "Eject!"

Explosive bolts blasted the Valkyrie'scanopy away. Unbearable heat filled the cockpit as rockets ignited behind the command chair. G forces smashed Dan back against his command chair as the rockets catapulted him out of the 'Mech. The computer reported "All systems go," but because of the Valkyrie'sangle of flight, the command chair's foot clipped the 'Mech's chin and sent Dan spi

The one-armed light 'Mech crashed into the Warhammer'sbroad back amid a din of screaming metal and snapping ceramic armor plates. The Warhammerstumbled forward two steps and dropped to one knee as it tried to shake itself free of the Valkyrie.It twisted to the right, but the effort proved fruitless. The Valkyrie'sleft arm had hooked over the Warhammer'sleft shoulder and was now jammed between the 'Mech's head and the spotlight on its shoulder.

Suddenly, the destruct mechanism that Dan had armed exploded deep within the Valkyrie,touching off a chain reaction in the LRM magazine. Pressed chest to back against flu. War-hammer,the Valkyrie'smissiles blew through the light 'Mech's thinly armored chest and clawed explosively into the Warhammer'sspine. The Warhammerarched its back as though in agony, then burst at the waist.

The gyrojets on Dan's command chair flared to life and whirled the Warhammerout of his vision. They straightened his flight and propelled him toward a safe landing zone at the far end of the battlefield. As the chair jetted along, however, the magnetic fields holding the Bifrostaloft knocked the gyros out of phase.

Dan's chair crashed hard to the deck. It skipped and rolled along, still aided by the chair's jets, then smashed into a ferrocrete wall. Rebounding once, it then headed in toward the wall again. Half-torn out of the chair's protective grasp, Dan screamed as his shoulder slammed into the wall. He heard something grind and snap, then a wave of black pain washed over him and dragged Dan down into unconsciousness.

* * *

As a doctor from the Silver Eagletightened the sling strap ru

The doctor frowned. "There's nothing you can do."

Dan swallowed against the lump in his throat. "I don't care, you bastard. Let me go." Dan jerked away and stood. A wave of vertigo hammered him, but he fought against it. He stalked over to where they had cordoned off a small cubicle with rope and sheets hung between two Kell Hound Panthers.Dan pushed his way through the opening and bit back tears.

Patrick Kell smiled at him weakly, his face ashen. Salome and Cat stood on the other side of the cot. "Glad to see you up, Dan." Kell's words were punctuated by pain-induced gasps and grimaces. "Knew they'd not keep you down long."

Dan jerked his head back in the direction from which he'd come. "They're ready for you now, Patrick."

The leader of the Kell Hounds shook his head, but forced a smile to his cracked lips. "Triage," he said. "I'm too messed up inside to survive, Dan. I can feel it. Let them save others." Agony molded Kell's face into a mask of torment, but he choked back the moans of pain. Patrick looked toward Salome. "Continue your report."

"The Kurita forces retreated to their DropShip and returned to their JumpShips. They knew that they could not catch the Macor the Cucamulusbefore they jumped out, which our ships will do in twenty hours."

Dan turned as the curtains behind him shot open. Melissa Steiner dashed through and dropped to her knees beside the cot. She grabbed Patrick's left hand in hers and squeezed hard. "You can't die!"she whispered hoarsely. Following close behind her was Clovis, who stopped at the foot of the cot. Andrew Redburn, bandages wrapped around his chest and arms, closed the curtains and stood guard at the opening.

Patrick lifted his right hand away from the bloody chest wound, which had reopened during the battle, and brushed away Melissa's tears. "No crying now, cousin. Can't have the Archon-Designate crying for a mercenary, can we? Don't want Takashi thinking you've got a soft spot." Patrick gritted his teeth as pain seized him.