BattleTech: The Animated Series/Bound by Honor

This transcript of episode eight of BattleTech: The Animated Series, Bound by Honor, is based off a VHS recording from the initial airing.

Scene 1[edit]

Waldorff System

[The Jade Falcon WarShip Falcon's Nest holds position in orbit around Waldorff V.]

Nicolai: Launch control, this is Star Colonel Nicolai Malthus. Prepare to initiate suborbital drop on my mark.

[A drop pod containing Nicolai's Summoner moves into launch position.]

Nicolai: Adam Steiner and his Strikers will be mine.

[Moments before the pod drops, a new voice comes over the intercom.]

Vandervahn: Launch control, abort this operation.

[Vandervahn enters the 'Mech bay, where a Timber Wolf stands next to a repair gantry.]

Vandervahn: We already lost Star Captain Redmond to this un-Clanlike foolishness. You will take a full Star of OmniMechs to secure Waldorff V.

[A crane lowers the drop pod next to the Timber Wolf. It opens to reveal Nicolai's Summoner.]

Vandervahn: If you wish to waste your time destroying this Adam Steiner, you may do so after you have conquered the planet.

[Nicolai opens the Summoner's windshield and drops a chain ladder down the front of the 'Mech to disembark.]

Nicolai: As you wish, Galaxy Commander.

[ Ciro Ramirez announces his presence in the 'Mech bay.]

Ciro: Excuse me, Star Colonel, but why eliminate the Strikers when you can take them as your bondsmen?

Nicolai: Because, unlike you, bondsman Ciro, they have no honor. They do not deserve to become one with the Clan.

Ciro: But…but think of the glory you could earn by converting a member of the royal House Steiner to the true vision of Kerensky.

Nicolai: Perhaps, but could this Adam Steiner be swayed?

Ciro: I can show him the way.

Nicolai: Every day you think less like a bondsman and more like a true warrior. You shall accompany me on this incursion.

Scene 2[edit]

[On Waldorff, a steady stream of workers in heavy industrial exoskeletons hauls cargo out of a depot warehouse and onto a nearby DropShip.]

Quartermaster: Let's go! Come on! Move it! Move it! Load it all up! Those Clan rats ain't gettin' these supplies.

[Four drop pods burn through the atmosphere above the depot as the Falcon Star attacks. Alarms blare and MechWarriors scramble for their rides. Nicolai's Star makes the final landing on foot-thrusters – two Timber Wolfs, Pytor's Hunchback IIC, and Nicolai's Summoner.]

Nicolai: What forces dare defend this outpost from the fury of the Falcon's Claw?

[AFFC 'Mechs stride out of the hangar — a Mauler, three Wolfhounds, and a Centurion. An Axman stands unmoving in scaffolding. When the hangar door opens, they all open fire on Nicolai's Summoner.]

Nicolai: All units, initiate Enhanced Imaging.

[As the 'Mechs fight on the tarmac, the quartermaster runs inside the DropShip to escape a fireball from a nearby explosion. The ship retracts its ramp and takes off a second later.]

Nicolai: Do not allow that DropShip to escape!

[The Clan Star focuses its firepower on the DropShip, doing critical damage to an engine port. The crippled DropShip crashes not far from the depot, sending its crew and the cargo flying inside.]

Nicolai: Attention DropShip crew. Surrender yourselves immediately, and you will be incorporated into the Clan Merchant Caste. Resist, and you will be destroyed.

[The Clan Star approaches the DropShip with weapons readied.]

Scene 3[edit]

[Meanwhile, aboard the Kwaidan in a swampy region of Waldorff V, Kristen Redmond attempts to explain how to treat a bondsman.]

Kristen: Why do you treat me so disgracefully?

Rachel: Everything here is within the limits of the Ares Conventions rules on prisoners of war.

Kristen: Prisoner? Did I not fight honorably enough to be made your bondsman?

Hawk: Siddown!

Adam: Now, let's get one thing straight, here, sweetheart. You're the prisoner. We ask the questions.

Hawk: And let's start with these tattoos. They the latest fashion for you Jade Falcon creeps?

[Hawkins jabs his finger at the EI implant tattoo under Kristen's left eye, and gets an electrical shock upon contact.]

Hawk: Aaaah!

Kristen: Our neurocircuitry allows us to interface directly with our BattleMechs.

Rachel: Organically integrated cyber-optics. That's incredible.

Hawk: It's downright barbaric if you ask me.

Adam: Yeah, well maybe so, Hawk, but it's one more clue to the Clan's technological edge.

Kristen: Now, if you wish, I could wire such circuitry into your neurohelmets.

Adam: What makes you think we'd let you go anywhere near our weaponry?

Kristen: As your bondsman, I am ready and willing to serve you in any capacity you choose.

Adam: Wait a second. You savagely attack our world, enslave our people, and now we're supposed to trust you?

Hawk: Do you honestly think we're that gullible?

[Sakamoto breaks in on the holographic communicator.]

Franklin: Major, I am receiving a distress signal from the Quartermaster Corps depot. They are being overrun by Clan 'Mechs.

Kristen: Ah ha. It must be Nicolai Malthus.

Adam (to Rachel): Prepare the ship for suborbital hop. We're going in after 'em.

Kristen: Beware, Adam Steiner. The Star Colonel has declared a vendetta on you.

Adam: At least we have something in common.

Scene 4[edit]

[Back at the depot, Nicolai gives the DropShip crew his final ultimatum.]

Nicolai: You have five seconds to withdraw from this DropShip. Five…four…three…two…

Hawk: One!

[Missiles from Hawkins' Mauler hit Nicolai's Summoner from the rear.]

Nicolai: So, the Inner Sphere surats have emerged from hiding, have they?

[The Clan 'Mechs return fire against the Strikers' battle line. Nicolai's Summoner rocks with the impacts of incoming fire.]

Val: Let's see how you Clan roosters fight up close. Face it, chum, we're tougher than you remember.

Nicolai: Tougher, perhaps, but not invincible.

[An Alpha Strike from Nicolai's Summoner downs Ryder's Bushwacker.]

Ciro: Star Colonel, the Strikers are only useful to the Clans alive!

Nicolai: Fear not, bondsman Ciro. You will not be deprived of your command.

Adam (to quartermaster): Better move your men out of here, Sergeant. I don't know how much longer we can hold these Clan forces.

Quartermaster: You don't have to tell me twice.

[The cargo door on the crashed DropShip opens and four crewmen jump out and run away. Adam exchanges fire with the Clan Star, but fails to hit.]

Adam: Argh! What's wrong with this thing? It can't hit the broad side of a DropShip!

Rachel: It looks like you've got a six-degree drift in your beam focusing lens.

Adam: Oh, man, what I wouldn't give to be back inside my Axman.

[An aerodyne shuttle roars overhead.]

Franklin: Success! The Quartermaster Corps has safely evacuated.

Kylie: Yeah, but the Major could still use some help.

Franklin: Agreed. Cover my flank!

[Sakamoto crawls behind a Timber Wolf and uses his magnetic grapnels to latch the Sloth onto the underside of the OmniMech.]

Kylie: Franklin, behind you!

[Pytor uses his Hunchback IIC's arm laser to shoot the Sloth, forcing it to drop back to the tarmac. Nicolai pours fire into the downed Bushwacker, as Hawkins moves in with his Mauler to help.]

Hawk: Need a hand?

[A blast from the Mauler sends the Summoner flying backwards.]

Val: I can still move, but my weapon system's fried.

Adam: We got bigger problems, people. Everybody pull back to the Kwaidan. We're making a tactical retreat right off this rock.

Hawk: Uh, Major, did you actually say retreat?

Adam: The troops got out. We can forget about the supplies. Our prisoner has information worth more than anything left behind.

Hawk: Yeah, yeah, I know. "Information is ammunition."

[The Clan forces advance on the Kwaidan.]

Rachel: Speaking of which, do you see that bunker the Clan 'Mechs are passing? According to my data, it's packed with munitions.

Adam: Well, Captain Hawkins, would you care to do the honors?

Hawk: Major Steiner, sir, I'd be delighted.

[The Mauler fires LRMs at the munitions bunker. It explodes in a fireball that knocks the adjacent Clan 'Mechs flat and tosses Nicolai around in his cockpit. The Strikers board the Kwaidan as its gun turrets cover their retreat.]

Nicolai: The cowards are fleeing!

[The Kwaidan lifts off, leaving Nicolai behind on the tarmac.]

Nicolai: You cannot elude me forever, Adam Steiner.

Scene 5[edit]

[Later, back at the supply depot]

Nicolai: This way, bondsman Ciro. We must survey our isorla.

Ciro: Isorla?

Nicolai: What your people refer to as "spoils of war."

[They enter a section of the 'Mech bay where Adam's Axman-2N stands in a repair gantry.]

Ciro: That's the Major's Axman!

Nicolai: Not any longer. I give it to you, to honor your future as a Clan MechWarrior.

Scene 6[edit]

[Aboard the Kwaidan as it burns towards the Katana.]

Kristen: I have already told you. The Clans are the descendants of General Kerensky's exiled Star League army.

Rachel: The similarities between Clan and Star League technology seem to support her claim.

Adam: The ancient Star League army was sworn to protect the Inner Sphere. If you're really their descendants, why did you attack us?

Kristen: Force was deemed necessary to guide barbarians into the way of the Clans.

Rachel: You're calling us barbarians?

Kristen: Who else would cage a trueborn warrior like an animal? I would be considered disgraced if I treated bondsman Ciro in this manner.

Adam: Did you say Ciro?

[The Strikers' command staff discuss this new information.]

Hawk: You said it yourself, Major. Our prisoners are worth more than anything we're leaving behind.

Rachel: Are you willing to give up all she can tell us about Clan tactics and technology in exchange for Ciro?

Adam: I can't abandon one of my men.

Scene 7[edit]

[A ceremony takes place aboard the Falcon's Nest.]

Nicolai: I am the Oathmaster.

Assembled Trothkin: Seyla!

Nicolai: Ciro, of the House of Ramirez, you come to Clan Jade Falcon from a noble Bloodheritage.

Assembled Trothkin: Seyla!

Nicolai: Your line was honored with the Order of the Star by General Kerensky himself. Give me your right hand.

[Nicolai takes out a knife and slices through the single cord of brown braided rope around Ciro's wrist.]

Nicolai: This cord marked you as a bondsman, but yours is the soaring heart of a warrior. No longer are you Ciro Ramirez. Now, you will be known as Ciro, MechWarrior of Clan Jade Falcon.

Assembled Trothkin: Yay!

Scene 8[edit]

[Meanwhile, aboard the Kwaidan, Adam transmits a message.]

Adam: Attention Star Colonel Nicolai Malthus. This is Major Adam Steiner of the First Somerset Strikers. I have someone important to you, and you have someone important to me. I offer an exchange: Star Captain Kristen Redmond for Lieutenant Ciro Ramirez.

Rachel: I'm not getting any response.

Kristen: And you never will. Prisoner exchanges are dishonorable and un-Clanlike. He will never take your offer seriously.

Adam: And what will he take seriously?

Kristen: You must challenge Nicolai Malthus to a Trial of Possession.

Adam: Trial of Possession?

Kristen: You must meet Nicolai Malthus in combat for the right to possess Ciro.

[Adam looks unsure, then returns to the transmitter.]

Adam: Attention Star Colonel Nicolai Malthus. I challenge you to a…to a Trial of Possession for Lieutenant Ciro Ramirez.

[Nicolai's face appears in the holographic communicator as he answers.]

Nicolai: You have piqued my curiosity, Adam Steiner. What do you offer if you lose?

Adam: Star Captain Kristen Redmond.

Nicolai: Hmph. You will have to do better than that. She is past her prime. Far past her prime. Allow me to suggest an alternative. If you lose, you will return Kristen and you will surrender yourself to me.

Hawk: Watch it, Major. They're settin' you up.

Rachel: Adam, this is too great a risk.

Adam: No! Ciro sacrificed everything for us. I won't desert him again. I can't. I agree to your terms.

Nicolai: Good. I shall now name the form of the contest: single combat in BattleMechs. You may select the location.

Adam: There's an abandoned refinery on a moon of Waldorff VII. We'll fight there.

Nicolai: Well bargained and done.

Hawk: Major, I sure hope you know what you're doing.

Kristen: You must prepare for your Trial, Major Adam Steiner. Please, allow me the honor of upgrading your BattleMech to the level of a Clan 'Mech.

Adam: You just don't give up, do you? Take her back to her cell.

Kristen: You do not understand. This is a matter of honor. As a defeated warrior, it is my duty to serve my captors. Why will you not allow me to do so? Is this some sort of test?

Adam: First she tries to destroy us, now she wants to help us against her own people. What kind of enemy are we up against?

Scene 9[edit]

[A Jade Falcon Overlord takes off from a barren, rocky landscape. Inside, Nicolai views a map of the Waldorff system in a holotank.]

Nicolai: DropShip crew, prepare for liftoff. Set course for the moon of Waldorff VII, the site of Adam Steiner's final battle.

Scene 10[edit]

[The Kwaidan burns towards the moon of Waldorff VII.]

Rachel: Why in the world did you choose that moon for your duel with Malthus? It's completely filled with unstable gas deposits. One misplaced missile, and you've got a planetary firestorm on your hands.

Adam: I realize that. I just hope that Malthus doesn't.

Scene 11[edit]

Waldorff VII

[The Kwaidan lands next to the abandoned refinery.]

[Ryder runs to the detention cell and presses the button to open the door.]

Val: Captain Ryder reporting for guard detail. I'd have relieved you sooner, Hawk, but Kylie's poker game is improving. Hawk?

[Ryder sees Hawkins unconscious on the deck. He checks to make sure Hawkins is alive, then opens an intercom channel to Adam.]

Val: Major, this is Val. Your prom date's gone.

[Adam presses a button, triggering an alarm klaxon.]

Adam: Red alert. I want her found immediately.

[The crew checks every nook and cranny of the ship. They find Patch unconscious in the 'Mech bay. Sakamoto spots her near the Awesome.]

Franklin: There!

Val: Come on out, lady. Nice and slow.

Kristen: I am pleased to report I have fixed Major Adam Steiner's 'Mech.

Val: To do what? Self-destruct?

Kristen: You left me no alternative. You must allow me to prove my worth. It is my right.

Patch: Urgh.

Adam: You okay, Patch?

Patch: I haven't felt like this since I had an autocannon fall on top of me. I'll pull through.

Adam: Good. I want you and Rachel to look over my 'Mech. Check every circuit, actuator, and myomer bundle for sabotage. If I have to, I'll take the Mauler, but I'd much rather face Malthus in a 'Mech I'm familiar with.

Scene 12[edit]

[The Jade Falcon Overlord lands near the refinery, within sight of the Kwaidan. Adam's Awesome strides down the boarding ramp.]

Rachel: Adam, we've run a thorough diagnostic on your 'Mech. It checks out fine, even the targeting array.

Patch: Whatever the ice queen was up to, we must have stopped her in time.

[Ryder and Sakamoto escort the handcuffed Kristen Redmond to her cell.]

Val: Come on, sweetheart. Bad girls get sent to their room before supper.

[Kristen stops and grimaces, as though having made a painful decision.]

Val: Look, we can do this the easy way or we can…

[Kristen executes a one-legged spin kick and sends Ryder flying across the corridor into the wall. He slumps to the ground. She turns and high kicks Sakamoto in the face, knocking him backwards into the wall. With both guards unconscious, she runs to the turbolift and presses the call button with her bootheel.]

Kristen: You unspeakable surats are not worthy of my loyal service.

[Sakamoto and Ryder recover and race to catch her, but the door to the lift slams in their faces. She leaves the ship in an escape pod as Adam heads to the Trial site.]

Rachel: Adam! We've got a problem here. Our prisoner made off in an escape pod. It was like she could have gone any time she wanted to. I'm sending Kylie and Franklin after her.

Adam: No! Put everyone on alert. Malthus is up to something. I'll try to stall him as long as I can.

[Adam spots Malthus' Summoner standing inside a huge warehouse, with the shattered sphere of a hazardous chemical storage tank visible behind him, through the far set of doors.]

Adam: That's far enough, Malthus. The Trial is over.

Nicolai: A challenge initiated cannot be rescinded. By our code of honor, this Trial will proceed.

Adam: First, your little partner tried to sabotage my 'Mech. Then she runs off as we're about to go into battle. That doesn't sound so honorable to me. In fact, it sounds like you've both been reeling me into a neat little trap.

Nicolai: Deception is the tool of Inner Sphere barbarians.

Adam: Either way, pal, you've got Kristen. Now release Ciro.

Nicolai: You are a pitiful coward, Adam Steiner. Trial or no Trial, I will not dishonor myself by wasting ammunition on you. However, if you still wish your Ciro returned, then let him decide for himself.

[Adam Steiner's former Axman strides into the warehouse. Inside, Ciro now wears a green and white Clan tunic and has Enhanced Imaging tattoos across his forehead and under each eye.]

Nicolai: Ciro Ramirez, you are about to engage in your Trial of Position. A successful outcome will guarantee your status as a MechWarrior.

Adam: Ciro, is that you?

Ciro: Affirmative, Major Adam Steiner. Now, please, eject from your 'Mech.

Adam: Uh, say again, Ciro?

Ciro: Eject from your 'Mech. That way, I can claim you as a bondsman without causing you unnecessary injury.

Adam: You can cut the act, Ciro. Head for the Kwaidan. I'll cover you.

Ciro: Initiating Enhanced Imaging.

Adam: Wait. What's Enhanced Imaging?

[A red tinted visor drops down out of Adam's neurohelmet in response to his vocal command.]

Adam: What the…? Rachel, are you getting this?

Rachel: Near as I can tell, it's some kind of cyber-imaging system.

Patch: Well I sure as heck didn't put it there.

Adam: Then it must have been Kristen! She really was trying to help.

[Adam's cockpit rocks as the Axman blasts the Awesome with lasers.]

Adam: Ciro, what are you doing?

Ciro: You must come to understand the way of the Clans.

Adam: Look here, Ciro. I don't want to hurt you either. You've obviously been brainwashed.

Ciro: It is you who does not understand. The Kerenskys have returned, and, with them, the Star League. We must join them! They will reunite the Inner Sphere.

Adam: These animals only want to enslave the Inner Sphere.

Ciro: This conversation can serve no further purpose.

[Ciro blasts tanks full of volatile gas with his arm lasers, causing a massive explosion in close proximity to Adam's Awesome. He then charges, hatchet raised for a killing blow. Adam torso twists and shoots back, blasting the hatchet completely out of Ciro's 'Mech's hand.]

Adam: Well, I'll say one thing for Kirsten's handiwork. My aim just got a whole lot better.

Rachel: Adam, according to my readings, that refinery explosion is triggering a chain reaction throughout this entire moon. The whole planetoid is going up!

[The floor begins to buck and shake, and the two battling 'Mechs are separated by a flame-filled chasm.]

Adam: Prepare the Kwaidan for liftoff.

Rachel: What about Ciro?

Adam: Ciro, fire your jump jets. You can still make it across.

[Increasing tremors knock the Awesome down.]

Ciro: My honor demands that I stay with the Clans.

[A cloud of steam jets out of the chasm, obscuring Adam's view of Ciro. Adam gets the Awesome back on its feet and turns towards the Kwaidan.]

Adam: My honor demands that I see to the safety of my crew. There was a time when you would have understood that, Ciro.

Nicolai (to Ciro): Your cowardly opponent has forfeited the Trial. You have earned your position in Clan Jade Falcon, MechWarrior Ciro.

Ciro: Thank you, Star Colonel.

[Adam boards the Kwaidan, which immediately lifts off. The Falcon Overlord takes off a second later. As both ships race away, bands of lightning race around the moon, then bluish gas emerges all around the planetoid. Finally, the planetoid explodes in a shining star-shaped burst of energy followed by a fireball and an expanding cloud of superheated gas and tumbling debris.]

Scene 13[edit]

[On the Kwaidan, Rachel runs to meet Adam in the 'Mech bay.]

Rachel: Adam, I'm so sorry.

Adam: We've lost him again, Rachel, and this time it's even worse.

Rachel: I know. If the Clans can turn Ciro against us, how do we know they aren't doing it to everybody on Somerset?

Adam: How do we know they won't do it to the entire Inner Sphere?

Scene 14[edit]

[Meanwhile, Kristen's escape pod rendezvouses with Nicolai's Overlord DropShip.]

Kristen (to Nicolai and Ciro): Well, Nicolai, it seems that Adam Steiner and his Strikers have proven equally elusive to us both.

Ciro: Finding them again will not be difficult.

Nicolai: How can you be so sure?

Ciro: Because I know their ultimate destination: a miserable little planet called Somerset.