As the dust settled and the thick black smoke, boiling from the remains of the massive torso, were gone with the wind, a mauled figure leaned next to a giant canyon wall. Just as if it was sitting there to rest a while. Where the Crusader has left some red paint, it seemed as if the BattleMech was glowing. But it was just the last light of the setting sun reflecting from the hull. As the 100 tons Davion Atlas exploded a few moments before, the Crusader was taken off his feet and thrown against the walls - like a kids doll.
A huge shadow fell over the Crusader: a Warhammer in the same paint scheme, but almost brand new. "Chu-i Brelow..." a voice cracked through the com. Not sure if interfered by static or if the speaker had just a lump in his throat. "You ... you killed the First Prince." With his last words, the voice seemed to regain strength. "You killed the one, I was supposed to kill. You took the honor from me!" Now Brelow clearly recognized who was talking to him: Chu-sa Yorinaga Kurita, XO of the 2nd Sword of Light. And a member of the royal family - even if he was not closely related to the coordinator.
"Sumimasen deshita, Kurita Yorinaga-sama!" Below suddenly broke out. "I did not mean to ... I ... I was prepared to die. But then ... it all went so fast." The young Chu-i tried to wipe away the sweat, dropping into his eyes. But the clunky helmet and his gloves prevented him from succeeding. "If ... if you want satisfaction, I ... will do what is necessary, Kurita Yorinaga-sama." Below said with a sudden drop of spirit in his voice. For a brief moment nothing happened, but it felt like an eternity to the Crusader's pilot. Suddenly the Warhammer began moving again, setting the sun free, forcing Below to blink. While Yorinaga Kuritas Warhammer slowly walked away from the scene, his last words were: "Shikata ga nai."
From Friday 31st of August to the 1st of September, it was BT time again in Oberasbach, close to Nuremberg in Germany. Alex had organized the Midsummer Fight again, this time with a few guests from Cologne and Koblenz. Some of the participants joined me in my mini campaign "Mallory's World", which consisted of three of the early fights in the scenario pack: Princely Rescue, The Nobility of Defeat and The Defeat of Nobility.
I made some adjustments to the setups, so chances for both sides would be more even for all of the three fights. In the first one, the 4th Davion Guards RCT clearly had some advantages over the defending 24th Dieron Regulars plus supporting tanks. The combat in the outskirts of Colterville was intense and thrilling. In the end the Kurita were overwhelmed, when the Davions used there numbers. All three Kurita Mechs, although severely damaged, managed to escape, while most of the tanks were destroyed.
The next day the 4th Davion Guards RCT were forced to break through enemy lines. The Kurita elite regiment 2nd Sword of Light was pressing hard on the Davions. Ian Davion, First Prince and commander of the Davion Guards, gave the order to head for the landing zones to lift off planet. But losses were high. The Kuritas set up a perimeter in some desert hills, gunning down most of the hover tanks and even incapacitating one of the light Davion mechs.
On Saturday at high noon, Ian Davion made his last stand at the Desolate Pass - the only path to the Davion dropzones. Ian intended to buy some time for his retreating troops, holding the Kurita onslaught as long as he could. And he did heroic! First the CO of the 2nd Sword of Light himself, Tai-sa Aritomo Goto, in his Battlemaster engaged. But due to a instinctive move, Ian managed to destroy the Battlemaster's right leg. After this, Ian kicked and shot at the almost helpless Kurita mech, until the Tai-sa ejected ... and crashed into the canyon walls with his seat.
Seeing this, the rest of the command lance rushed enraged up the pass. But Ian was now in his element, something the Kurita Samurai would describe as "mushin no shin". Like a zen master of the old he cut down a Thunderbolt and shortly after a Kurita Marauder - with just a single shot of the AC20 into the head! His Atlas was already in a bad shape and when the fourth and last member of the lance, a Crusader, fired all his rockets, Ian's time had come: Almost all of them hit him, even the long range missiles! Striking deep into the center torso of the Atlas, letting him go up like an exploding star. A fitting end for the First Prince of the Federated Suns...
Parallel to this a couple of other attendees fought out some chapter fights. As far as I know it has been Marik vs. Steiner and Liao vs. Steiner. On Saturday afternoon we all joined in a big stomp with 3025 IS tech which Oliver from house Steiner had one, after a close finally with Mehmet. The weekend has been a blast! Great matches, delicious meals, good drinks and interesting talks. Hope to see you all again. P.S.: My special thanks go out to Christian, Mehmet, Roland and Alex who joined me in this short, but awesome campaign!
