Phantom 'Mech

The Phantom 'Mech is the only canonical allusion to a possibly supernatural event or power within the BattleTech universe, and as such remains somewhat of an engima.

The Phantom 'Mech incident on Mallory's World

The term Phantom 'Mech usually refers to the conclusion of the famous duel between Morgan Kell and Yorinaga Kurita on Mallory's World in 3016. The duel gained near-legendary status among MechWarriors throughout the Inner Sphere.

Situation

Forces from the Draconis Combine, including the elite 2nd Sword of Light Regiment, launched a major attack against the Federated Suns in 3013. Yorinaga Kurita, then a battalion commander in the Second Sword of Light, killed Prince Ian Davion, who was fighting a rearguard action in the fighting on Mallory's World. The mercenary unit Kell Hounds, sent as reinforcements, made planetfall shortly afterwards. While they could not save the Prince, they moved in to allow the defenders to recover Prince Ian's body before the Kurita units could take it as a trophy. This, and their raid on Murchison a year later, earned the Kell Hounds the emnity of House Kurita.

Following the death of Ian Davion, Yorinaga Kurita was promoted to the rank of Tai-sa and was made overall commander of the Second Sword of Light, with free reins to oversee the battle on Mallory's World.

At the beginning of the year 3016, the fighting on Mallory's World still raged. In what had become a personal issue between himself and Morgan Kell, Yorinaga Kurita decided to crush the remaining Kell Hounds in order to demoralize the defenders, and the entire Second Sword of Light regiment moved against the Kell Hounds, and before long had one battalion surrounded in their base.

The duel

In this hopeless situation, Morgan Kell stepped forward in his Archer and recounted the heroic deeds of his ancestors in Japanese, calling for a duel with a member of the 2nd Sword of Light. It obviously fell to the regiment's commander, Yorinaga Kurita, to answer the call; he stepped forward in his Warhammer and listed the deeds of his ancestors as well, in precise English.

Although the combatants' respective BattleMech models meant that Kell was clearly disadvantaged at shorter ranges, he ignored his LRM-20 launchers and chose to engage the Warhammer at very short range in a direct match. There could be no doubt that he was going to sacrifice himself and offering his life for that of his men.

Yorinaga Kurita essentially defeated Morgan Kell in the fight. In the end, Kurita feinted the failure of his right PPC, then surprisingly used it to shoot off the Archer's right arm. Kell's critically damaged 'Mech toppled to his knees right in front of Kurita's Warhammer.

Kurita in his Warhammer then fired all weapons ("Alpha strike") at Kell's Archer at pointblank range, but miraculously missed with each and every weapon although Kell did not even move. Conversely, Kell fired his long-range missile launchers. The missiles failed to detonate due to the very short range; their impact did crack open the canopy of Kurita's 'Mech, however. Kurita fired all his weapons again, only to completely miss Kell again.

Kell did not return fire. Instead, he respectfully bowed to his opponent in his Archer, acknowledging him as the better warrior. The simple gesture meant that Kurita could not kill Kell without losing his honour now. Ashamed, Yorinaga Kurita uttered a haiku:

“

Yellow bird I see. The gray dragon hides wisely. Honor is duty.

”

He conceded victory to Morgan Kell and allowed the Kell Hounds to withdraw while he ordered his own troops to retreat. When the pilot of a Panther objected to the order, he destroyed the 'Mech with a concentrated blast of fire. While his warriors retreated, Kurita threw his Katana and Wakizashi (which he had received from Coordinator Takashi Kurita personally) from his cockpit.

The mysterious event has never been given a satisfactory explanation. Kurita later claimed that he had had the Archer plain in his sights at very short range, but then Kell's 'Mech had inexplicably disappeared from all sensors all of a sudden, despite standing still, and the salvo missed because the targeting computer could not acquire a lock. Similarly, Chu-sa Narimasa Asano, then a Marauder pilot with the Second Sword of Light, later recounted how the Archer had disappeared from all sensors despite being in plain sight.

Aftermath

The duel was a turning point for both Morgan Kell and Yorinaga Kurita.

The former largely disbanded the Kell Hounds down from a regiment to a single battalion and went into exile in a christian monastery on Zaniah III without a word of explanation.

The latter requested permission from his Coordinator to commit seppuku, but the request was denied and he was exiled to a zen monastery on Echo V instead. From there, he issued the same request each year but received no answer until 1. January 3027 when he was recalled and tasked with the creation of a new elite unit, the Genyosha. After fulfilling this order, his death wish would be granted.

Patrick Kell's last fight

A similar phenomenon occurred during Patrick Kell's last fight on Styx in 3027, but this is not generally known as the exact events on Styx were largely covered up and remain shrouded in secrecy.

By sheer coincidence, Morgan Kell's brother Patrick wound up leading the Kell Hounds in a battle against the Genyosha on Styx on 26. May 3027. He piloted a Victor that disappeared from the targeting systems (as reported over the radio by Kell Hounds member Austin Brand and witnessed by Daniel Allard) in much the same fashion as Morgan Kell's Archer had on Mallory's World. This time, however, Yorinaga Kurita in his Warhammer managed to destroy the other 'Mech. Patrick Kell was mortally wounded and died shortly afterwards.

During this fight, which was not a duel but a battle between several dozen 'Mechs, Yorinaga Kurita's Warhammer, too, could not be acquired as a target for some time while it closed with Patrick Kell's 'Mech.

Final showdown

The return of Yorinaga Kurita brought Morgan Kell out of his self-imposed exile. He took command of the Kell Hounds again and quickly rebuilt them to regiment strength just prior to the Fourth Succession War. The Kell Hounds and the Draconis Combine, especially the Sword of Light regiments and the Genyosha, frequently attacked each other's bases in attempts to force a final confrontation. Morgan Kell's Archer repeatedly proved impossible to lock on during these encounters. The final battle only took place in October 3029 on Nusakan. The Fifth Sword of Light had engaged the Kell Hounds in intense one-to-one fighting when the Genyosha arrived.

Again, Yorinaga Kurita and Morgan Kell squared off in a one-on-one duel. It was a virtual replay of their fight on Mallory's World thirteen years earlier, only Morgan Kell did not fire a single shot this time while Kurita fired virtually everything he had. Kell's Archer (again) lost an arm and dropped to its knees before Kurita's Warhammer, then again stood and bowed to his opponent.

This time, Kurita could not return the gesture because the full salvo had overheated and immobilized his Warhammer in the Nusakan desert. By his own honour code, he had again lost the duel and subsequently committed seppuku.

Deeply impressed, Yorinaga Kurita's son Akira Brahe and a dozen other Genyosha MechWarriors turned their backs on the Draconis Combine on the spot and joined the Kell Hounds.

Other instances

Two vaguely similar occurrences happened after 3029:

• During the Battle of Luthien in late 3051 Morgan Kell, again in an Archer, stood on a hill and directed the Kell Hounds First Regiment against an assault by clusters of Nova Cat BattleMechs. Again, despite making himself a perfect target for any number of advanced OmniMechs—who tried their best to bring him down—the Clan Warriors were unable to land a hit on the mercenary.
• When Aidan Pryde fought a rearguard action to cover his Clan's withdrawal at the conclusion of the Battle of Tukayyid, his numerous foes seemed unable to hit him, although he was ultimately killed in that fight.

Conclusions

Phantom 'Mech Ability?

In the (canonical) sourcebook, The Kell Hounds, a mystical ability called the Phantom 'Mech Ability (also known as PMA) was postulated as the reason for the phenomenon. Both Morgan and Patrick Kell, as well as Yorinaga Kurita, alledgedly possess that ability.

This sparked a controversy among fans of the BattleTech universe whether or not PMA is acceptable as canon; many feel that a mystical ability seems rather far-fetched, especially considering the technically oriented outlook of the BattleTech universe and the absence of any Psi powers, magic, telepathy etc. otherwise.

The BattleTech Line Developer, Herbert A. Beas II, has since explicitly refuted the existence of such a mystical ability, expressly stating in an official verdict on the CBT Forum that "Magic" is among "Other things not BattleTech". He elaborated by saying that while some strange events happened in established canon, "most of these can be played off as near-death experiences and hallucinations".

ECM or Cloaking Device

The preferred alternative explanation for the Phantom 'Mech phenomenon is that the Kells used some kind of Lostech ECM jammer or cloaking device. While a mysterious electronic counter-measure seems less plausible (ECMs disrupt enemy sensors; all 'Mech signatures identified by a disrupted targeting and tracking system, not a select few, should be equally obscurred), some form a cloaking technology is the most reasonable, non-mystical explanation.

During Patrick Kell's fight on Styx, Daniel Allard's Valkyrie managed to acquire a transient IR signature of Patrick Kell's Victor (for only half a second) when it was hit by two PPCs from Kurita's Warhammer, possibly overloading and disabling the mysterious device briefly. Alternatively, a mysterious cloaking device might not be able to mask the concurrent IR spike caused by the sudden change in the surface temperature of armor plating hit by a pair of PPC blasts, assuming the emissivity of armor plating, ε, is 0< ε < 1. Despite this transient spike, the other Kurita 'Mechs inexplicably kept missing the Victor.

When Yorinaga Kurita's Warhammer closed with the Victor, Allard could not acquire a lock on the Warhammer either and ultimately rammed his own 'Mech into the back of Kurita's machine, destroying both. While some have theorized that Yorinaga Kurita shared the Kell brothers' ability at that moment, it could also be argued that the Warhammer was affected by the proximity of Kell's Victor.

Notes

• The duel is never directly described in any canon source; instead, it is indirectly recounted by various people in different sources. Since the duel has a legendary status within the universe, those statements are hardly objective, and may rather be blurring the subject.

• Critter-TEK parodies the Phantom 'Mech with a special rule called "The amazing Ghost TEK" ability, which "allows the Swell Hounds to rescue any important character or leader TEK from overwhelming odds or an desperate situation, once during a scenario."

References

• Warrior: En Garde (novel)
• Warrior: Coupé (novel)
• The Kell Hounds (scenario book)