In 3010, two “spoiled rich kids playing at soldiering” arrived on Galatea and immediately assembled a crack team of technicians as the first step of their master plan to build a fearsome new mercenary regiment. The gambit worked, drawing some of the most experienced warriors of the day to their banner, and before long, from such humble beginnings, the Kell Hounds were born. Known far and wide not only for their elite skills, but also their strong identification with the Lyran state and House Steiner, as well as their role as hosts of Clan Wolf (in-Exile) and their rumored ties to a secret society known simply as Heimdall, the Kell Hounds have been the focus of countless holodramas, newsvid articles, and history books. Anyone who’s anyone in the mercenary business has heard of the Kell Hounds, and chances are some even got their start through some association with these elite soldiers of fortune.

The Kell Hounds’ early history includes some of the most pivotal battles of the 31st century, from the Battle for Mallory’s World, where Prince Ian Davion died, to their role in safeguarding Archon-designate Melissa Steiner during the Fourth Succession War. During the Clan Invasion, they fought the Smoke Jaguars and Nova Cats to a standstill alongside the Wolf’s Dragoons and House Kurita’s elite forces on Luthien, and took part in the final battles of the Invasion with several actions alongside the troops of the reborn Star League. During the FedCom Civil War, they sided with deposed Archon Prince Victor Steiner-Davion, and helped win back the Lyran capital of Tharkad for Archon Peter Steiner-Davion. Alongside the Exiled Wolves, their allies since the Falcon-Wolf Refusal War, they survived and won countless battles during the Jihad, and once more provided safe haven to their fellow warriors in the Wolf’s Dragoons.

When one visits the Kell Hounds’ holdings on Arc-Royal, particularly the palace owned by the Kell family, its founders and leaders since Morgan and Partick Kell themselves, one can see everywhere the pride and history of this unit. Like the Wolf’s Dragoons and the 21st Centauri Lancers, their reputation is among the purest one can find, with high standards of conduct on and off the battlefield. Also apparent are their links to the Steiner family and the Wolf Clan, demonstrating both their nationalism and brotherly acceptance—two features rarely found in a mercenary command.

In looking closer, to find out just what makes the Kell Hounds tick, I managed to score an interview with the mercenaries’ spokesperson, Major Rafael Bradley, who expanded on these and other fascinating points about the Hounds.

“The Kells are related to the Steiners more by marriage than by blood,” says Bradley, “but that relationship runs deep just the same, and it goes both ways. The Steiner family, even during the Civil War, always showed the Hounds respect. Half our strength both pre-Jihad and after, was made possible through grants direct from the Archons.

“That’s not to say we were simply handed our success, however,” Bradley quickly adds, with a smile and a wink. “It just shows the rewards of a job very well done.”

It also shows the bonds of family that extend beyond the boundaries of this mercenary command, bonds that tie the inheritors of the Hounds not only to House Steiner, but to the Exiled Wolves who they share their homeworld with. Phelan Kell, first Khan of the so-called Clan Wolf (in-Exile), was actually the son of Kell Hound founder Morgan Kell, when he was captured by the Wolves in the early part of the Invasion. His influence, still seen in the easy camaraderie the mercenaries and Clansmen continue to share, emphasizes this sense of family that has become the heart of Lyran defense against Clan Jade Falcon since the end of the Jihad.

During my visit with the Kell Hounds, I saw no real combat action, but Major Bradley was kind enough to allow me to accompany his reinforced lance into a mock battle exercise against some resident Wolves. There, while observing the low-power, paint-munitions battle between five mercenary ’Mechs and an equal number of Clan machines, the skill and daring of the warriors on both sides was clear. Though waged with more comm chatter than normally seen between sides in a real dust-up, both forces fought hard to take their objectives, and the “battle” could have gone either way at any moment.

In the end, only a clever mine trap won the day when Bradley’s Warhammer narrowly averted the field lain by his own lancemates, luring the pursuing Mad Cat of Star Captain Danier into the kill zone. As the simulator computers shut down the 75-ton machine, a whoop of triumph came over the Kell Hound channels, answered by congratulations and laughter by their Wolf counterparts. A friendly game of chess with ’Mechs, resolved between brothers-in-arms.

Like all the greats, the Kell Hounds have risen to fame and fortune as a mercenary command through their elite skills and a distinctive command style, dedicated to honor and compassion. But, more than anything else, family defines the nature of what it is to be a Hound, a sense of unity that goes beyond the battlefield, and extends beyond the boundaries of simple politics. It can be a volatile combination at times, but the Hounds have made it work for more than a century, with no signs of stopping now.

With this look at the Kell Hounds, I’m Ravi Juro, INN special correspondent, Arc-Royal.