Coupe

Candace took Justin's right hand in her left as they sprinted past Tsen Shang and into the corridor outside the throne room. They raced through the hall of portraits and into the 'Mech bay. Candace strapped herself into the jump seat on the right side of the Centurion'scockpit while Justin closed the canopy and went through the ignition sequence.

He pulled the Davion ID module from his satchel and inserted it into a slot beneath the command console. With it firmly in place, he flipped the 'Mech's radio over to Davion military frequencies. "Changeling to Davion Force Commander. I'm coming out of the 'Mech bay in a Solaris-style Centurion."

Justin recognized Morgan Hasek-Davion's voice. "Long way from home, aren't you, Changeling?"

Justin laughed and saw Candace, who had plugged an auxiliary headset into the jack near her head, smile widely. "Roger that, Commander." Justin guided the Centurionthrough the 'Mech bay and out through the opening Andrew had created earlier. The mist had all but dissipated, though the thick, black smoke produced by burning myomer had replaced it.

He saw an Atlasstanding halfway between the 'Mech bay and the DropShip. The broken bodies of a half-dozen burning 'Mechs surrounded it, yet the damage done to the Atlas had barely scratched its armor. Though no moving Liao 'Mechs were visible on the field, the Atlasstood guard while the other Davion 'Mechs reboarded the DropShip.

Justin smiled to himself. That has to be Morgan."Going my way?"

The Atlaswaved him forward with its left hand. "Wouldn't think of leaving without you. Next stop: home."

52

Nusakan

Isle of Skye, Lyran Commonwealth

24 October 3029

From his position in the front rank of the Kell Hounds, Dan Allard marveled at the peace on Yorinaga Kurita's face. The Combine Mech Warrior, flanked sides and back by a half-dozen of his Genyosha,walked around to the north side of the hastily erected platform where his son waited, and stepped up onto it. He looks more like someone heading to some pleasant social occasion than to his own death.

Walking to the platform's western edge, he removed the formal gray shitagibearing the Genyoshacrest on the sleeves, breasts, and back. He exchanged it for a kimonoof purest white and slipped it over his bared torso. Yorinaga bowed his head to the man who assisted him in the change of clothing, then turned and crossed back to the center of the platform. There, where two white tatamimats had been laid out in a T pattern, Yorinaga knelt with his back to Akira Brahe and faced south.

Clad in the Genyosha'sformal gray raiment, another assistant brought Yorinaga a tray bearing a sakeflask and a small cup. Grasping the barrel of the flask in his left hand, Yorinaga poured the saketo the left, filling the cup in two motions. As he watched the Kurita warrior lift the cup to his lips, Dan recalled what he had been told of this portion of the ceremony. He'll drain the cup in four swallows—two and two—because the Japanese wordshi means both "four" and "death."

Yorinaga replaced the empty cup, and the aide whisked it away silently. He held his head high, then bared his chest and abdomen by stripping the kimonoopen in the front and bringing the neck of the garment to the middle of his back. He carefully folded the sleeves beneath his ankles so the kimonowould prevent his body from falling backward in the moment of death.

The elder Mech Warrior looked out over the assembly of mercenaries and Combine Mech Warriors. "I thank you for honoring me with your presence today." With hands resting on his knees, he glanced to his left and nodded. Tai-shoPalmer Conti brought a white tray bearing a paper-wrapped knife onto the platform and set it down near Yorinaga's left hand. He bowed and withdrew.

Akira Brahe, acting as Yorinaga's kaishaku,readied himself for his part in the ritual suicide. Also wearing a white robe, Akira rose up from his seated position to his left knee. He slid a white-hilted katanafrom its scabbard and raised it high over his head in his right hand. His tawny eyes measured the distance from himself to the back of his father's neck, then his left hand closed on the hilt.

As assistant, Akira must strike off Yorinaga's head before Yorinaga can dishonor himself with any show of pain.Dan studied the fierce expression on Akira's face. It's tearing him up, but he is determined not to dishonor his father.

Sunlight glinted sharply from the bared tip of the seppukuknife as Yorinaga grasped it in his right hand. Razored edge to the right, he plunged the blade into his belly over his left hip and drew it across to the right. Then he twisted the blade and made a jumonji—a crosswise cut coming up. His body rock-still, his control unbroken, Yorinaga withdrew the gore-streaked knife and brought his right hand to rest on his knee again.

Akira's sword flashed down, severing his father's neck completely and ending the agonies Yorinaga never permitted to show on his face. The headless body wavered for a moment, then sagged forward.

Allard, Ward, Wilson, and the rest of the Kell Hounds watched the senseless and barbaric loss of life in horror. No matter how familiar they were with the seppukuceremony, they could not reconcile it with their values.

From within the breast of his kimono,Akira drew a thickness of white rice paper, folded into a triangle. Using it, he grasped Yorinaga's head by the hair and raised it up. He showed it to Chu-saNarimasa Asano, who nodded, confirming Yorinaga's death. Akira reverently lowered the head back beside the body, then used the paper to cleanse the blade.

Akira backed to his earlier position and slid the katanahome into its white scabbard. He bowed in the direction of his father, and according to tradition, should have withdrawn as the attendants bore the body away. Instead, he stood and looked out over the assembled Combine soldiery.

The bronze-haired MechWarrior drew their immediate attention. "It is a minor comfort to me that, according to the laws and dictates of our nation, I am not legally the son of Yorinaga Kurita. This action I am about to undertake would bring shame upon him and his memory, which I would not do for anything. All of you who saw him here, saw how he faced death. You know this was a man who deserved more respect than what marked the later years of his life."

Begi

The scorn in Akira's voice as he mentioned the Sword of Light regiments stung Conti, but the younger MechWarrior never gave the Tai-shothe chance to respond. "What did we get in return? On Northwind, we are treated like roninor bandits or, worse yet in the eyes of the Dragon, mercenaries. The Genyosha,the troops that prevented mercenaries front overru