Bloodname

Risa Pryde, her voice sounding harsh over the commlink, a

Aidan was ready. Strapped into his command couch, he began marching his Summonertoward the horizon, knowing that Megasa was heading toward him from the other side.

* * *

When Megasa's Mad Dogcame into sight, it was firing the large pulse lasers on both arms. The pulses came fast and true, several hitting before Aidan was able to get his Summonerinto cover. Briefly he watched the pulses that missed him, speeding on their way to eventual dissipation but looking like they could go on forever.

Before Megasa could adjust his aim, Aidan went on the attack, firing off a rack of LRMs. Immediately he realized that his targeting system had not been fully adjusted for the change in ballistic characteristics dictated by low gravity. The missiles impacted twenty meters away from the Mad Dog,and before Aidan could get off a second shot, Megasa had moved his 'Mech into a field of rubble and boulders. Although the other man's 'Mech was not jump-capable, the big steps it took turned into low-arc leaps.

Megasa fired with each step. Aidan could sense his 'Mech's torso armor flying off, sailing long distances before settling onto the ground among small dust clouds. A missile he had not even seen until the last instant hit his Summonerhigh on the torso, near the shoulder. The recoil from the impact startled Aidan, and his 'Mech was nearly knocked off its feet as it stumbled backward and turned 180 degrees, giving Megasa a clear shot at its back.

* * *

Planetside, in the command center, the large audience was struggling to get a good view of the holographic version of the battle on the moon. When Megasa's missile hit and spun Aidan's Summoneraround, followed by a peppering of laser pulse shots to the 'Mech's back, the pro-Megasa audience laughed out loud. Marthe shrank back slightly from the railing, appalled as much by her fellow warriors' vindictive-ness as she was by Aidan's plight.

When someone suddenly laid a hand on her shoulder, she whirled around, ready to fight anyone who dared touch her. She recognized Kael Pershaw from his participation in the Grand Council session.

"May we talk, Star Captain?" he asked.

"I do not wish to leave here. Perhaps after the battle?"

"What I have to say can be said here. Everyone is concentrating on the battle anyway."

Marthe turned her own attention back to the projection. Aidan's Summonerhad turned around and was now firing wildly, alternating between its LB 10-X and its PPC.

No, Aidan, she thought, you are using up your ammo too fast. You ca

"I have been watching you," Kael Pershaw said. "Your body leans toward the battle when Star Commander Aidan is doing the fighting. I know you came from the same sibko. You are helping him, are you not?"

"I suppose I am free to admit that now, yes. No violation of Clan law or custom is involved."

"Then why keep it secret? Are you ashamed to help a warrior who previously fought as a freebirth?

Ashamed to support a warrior against whom nearly everyone else is arrayed?"

"I feel no shame. My clandestine participation was political, not strategic. I do not agree with the charges against Star Commander Aidan, and I believe he deserves this chance, that is all."

"It may interest you to know, Star Captain, that I agree with you."

That was perhaps the only thing Kael Pershaw might have said that could draw Marthe's attention away from the battle scene. By now Megasa had retreated a bit, using the mountainous terrain to escape from Aidan's heavy fire, rendering much of it useless. The expended fire made a pretty picture as it rose off Rhea's surface like new rays of moonlight.

"You support his cause. I thought, as his commanding officer, that you despised him."

"I did, and perhaps still do. But ever since he defeated Lopar in the first round of this Trial of Bloodright, I have come to admire his skill. That is all there is to it, and I wanted someone on his side to know it. But Star Captain Joa

A roar from the crowd whisked Marthe's attention back to the holographic scene. Megasa had come out from the rock formation, sending off two missile salvos. With the massive dust cloud stirred up by the failed missiles, for a moment it looked as though the shots had actually destroyed Aidan and his Summoner.The next moment Marthe was relieved to see the 'Mech walk steadily out of the cloud of debris. When she turned back to Kael Pershaw, he was gone.

She had no time to wonder about that for the battle scene was compelling. What she saw made her gasp in shock, perhaps the strongest reaction she had shown to anything since her sibko days. Aidan's Summonerwas on the run, heading toward the Mad Dogat too great a speed, the fire from his weapons preceding him. The speed at which he was moving created an illusion that he might run into his own fire and explode his own BattleMech. It was not the illusion that concerned Marthe, however. She had warned Aidan about moving too fast in the moon's low gravity.

On Rhea a BattleMech could travel six times faster than in normal gravity, but such low gravity affected the structural integrity of a ru

What Marthe feared finally happened. As the Summonerran along, its left leg came down hard on the moon's surface. The leg, built to support a seventy-ton 'Mech ru

As the lower leg fell away like a gantry at a rocket launch, dust enveloped the 'Mech's foot. The Summonercontinued forward, the Mech's momentum making it look as though it had hopped several steps more. Then it began to topple like an exploded building. It fell sideways, then abruptly disappeared.

* * *

Aidan sensed the fall even before he knew his 'Mech's leg had snapped off. He tried to control his fall by moving the left leg inward, but because it was now a "phantom" leg, nothing happened.

The 'Mech came to the edge of a wide hole and teetered there for a moment. Then the right foot slipped forward, sending the Summonerplunging into the deep, wide pit.

The 'Mech bounced once off the wall of the pit, which turned it sideways for the rest of the fall. It came to rest at the bottom of the pit, the impact knocking Aidan unconscious.

* * *

The holographic projection did not recreate the pit. Aidan's Summonermerely disappeared from view the way things did on flatscreen video.

Marthe watched Megasa's 'Mech come to a stop and seem to stare at the pit before ambling to the edge. She wondered whether the judges had already decided on the match's outcome. If Megasa wished, he could claim victory now, then permit rescue teams to get Aidan out of his 'Mech. But Marthe knew that Megasa, like all the other Bloodright participants, had vowed to kill Aidan, and she knew that was on his mind now. He had plenty of ammunition left. All he needed to do was fire it into the pit. Aidan could not eject. In Rhea's vacuum, he would die immediately. His only hope was the one thing that could not happen—that Megasa would give him his life.

Joa