Jackrabbit pushed his mech closer, trying to bring his much shorter ranged autocannon and pulse lasers into ranged on the Talon. The enemy mechwarrior wasn’t feeling that idea and was trying to use its superior speed and longer ranged PPC to harass him while he closed. The ER large laser was his only way to answer as he tried to push the Talon into making a mistake.
Dagger eased her throttle forward. She knew that her mech and the Panther moved the same speed, she was trying to not give it a chance to get behind her. She had run the heat management cycles on a Black Knight since she was old enough to sit in a simulator, and she kept a steady barrage of large laser and PPC fire up. If she could score a few solid hits, she might take the leg off of the Panther and then the battle would be completed.
The Talon pilot was well versed with the controls of their battlemech, and it seemed like every time Jackrabbit got close, the Talon slipped out of range and opened up with that PPC again. The Shootist’s large laser tried to answer, but he wasn’t scoring any solid hits. With a roar of frustration, Jackrabbit did something astonishingly foolish.
Dagger eased her throttle forward. She knew that her mech and the Panther moved the same speed, she was trying to not give it a chance to get behind her. She had run the heat management cycles on a Black Knight since she was old enough to sit in a simulator, and she kept a steady barrage of large laser and PPC fire up. If she could score a few solid hits, she might take the leg off of the Panther and then the battle would be completed.
The Talon pilot was well versed with the controls of their battlemech, and it seemed like every time Jackrabbit got close, the Talon slipped out of range and opened up with that PPC again. The Shootist’s large laser tried to answer, but he wasn’t scoring any solid hits. With a roar of frustration, Jackrabbit did something astonishingly foolish.
The shoulder of the heavy mech came down and the laser arm was pointed at the ground as the Shootist surged forward towards the Talon. The other mechwarrior had misread the route and the Shootist came within a hair’s breadth of making physical contact. The radio lit up with a half a dozen radio calls as Jackrabbit opened up with his short range weaponry. The Deathgiver autocannon lived up to its name as it opened up horrendous holes in the Talon’s right torso and the mech stopped everything. The Autocannon had destroyed huge chunks of the extra light fusion engine shielding.
“Jackrabbit, Hold before continuing. Your actions are under review.” he heard a very terse version of his aunt barking at him over the radio.
“Aff, going weapons cold, powering down.”
Dagger finished her first opponent quickly. The Panther didn’t have the speed to get into a position to utilize it’s short range weapons, and the flat terrain didn’t give it a lot of space to maneuver. Laser fire eventually severed it’s leg from the right torso, and the battlemech toppled.
“Jackrabbit, power up, weapons free.” He heard the radio call. The battlemech he was squaring off against was something he didn’t recognize. His combat computer thought it was a Wolverine, but it didn’t look right. The Wolverine waited just long enough for his systems to come online before opening up. The Autocannon opened with higher than standard rate of fire, and Jackrabbit felt the heavy slugs slam into his Right Torso.
“Jackrabbit, Hold before continuing. Your actions are under review.” he heard a very terse version of his aunt barking at him over the radio.
“Aff, going weapons cold, powering down.”
Dagger finished her first opponent quickly. The Panther didn’t have the speed to get into a position to utilize it’s short range weapons, and the flat terrain didn’t give it a lot of space to maneuver. Laser fire eventually severed it’s leg from the right torso, and the battlemech toppled.
“Jackrabbit, power up, weapons free.” He heard the radio call. The battlemech he was squaring off against was something he didn’t recognize. His combat computer thought it was a Wolverine, but it didn’t look right. The Wolverine waited just long enough for his systems to come online before opening up. The Autocannon opened with higher than standard rate of fire, and Jackrabbit felt the heavy slugs slam into his Right Torso.
Dagger smiled as her second opponent stepped into range, and was surprised by the Crab. It was a smaller version of the battlemech her father drove, but it used Large Lasers instead of the Autocannons. This particular version was using Extended Range versions, and was doing a fairly solid job of keeping her away. Dagger spent an inordinate amount of time trying to close that distance, but the Crab was content to make occasional contact and bleed armor infrequently.
Jackrabbit tried the same trick on the Wolverine that he had on the Talon, but that turned out to have been a poor choice. His Autocannon shot had gone wide, but the Wolverine had set up a bevy of center mass shots with everything in its arsenal. The Autocannon opened up a pair of holes in the Center Torso and a barrage of short ranged missiles erupted into the mech’s Torso. The Gyroscope flashed red and Jackrabbit knew his mech was falling.
Jackrabbit tried the same trick on the Wolverine that he had on the Talon, but that turned out to have been a poor choice. His Autocannon shot had gone wide, but the Wolverine had set up a bevy of center mass shots with everything in its arsenal. The Autocannon opened up a pair of holes in the Center Torso and a barrage of short ranged missiles erupted into the mech’s Torso. The Gyroscope flashed red and Jackrabbit knew his mech was falling.
Dagger shook her head as the internal heat in the cockpit started to spike. She’d been rotating her weapons for a while, but they all generated heat, and she knew she was going to have to stop firing to give the coolant system a chance to catch up. When that happened, she suspected the Crab was going to try and close the distance and light her up.
She saw the Shootist go down, and was surprised by the speed of the Wolverine. It was nearly on top of him before she had a chance to blink, and saw the Autocannon lower across the fallen Shootist’s cockpit. Jackrabbit popped his hatch and powered his battlemech down. He was out of the fight, and she had the sudden sensation that every eye on the field turned to her.
She gritted her teeth, pushed battlemech forward and let the heat sinks do their job. The Crab did what she expected and she saw the damage indicators light up across the battlemech’s shoulder. She had not expected the laser shot that glazed the armor off of her battlemech’s head. The viewport went white for a moment and she roared as she triggered her alpha strike. She couldn’t see very well between the flash of light that had almost taken the head of her mech, and then her mech overheated and stopped moving entirely.
She saw the Shootist go down, and was surprised by the speed of the Wolverine. It was nearly on top of him before she had a chance to blink, and saw the Autocannon lower across the fallen Shootist’s cockpit. Jackrabbit popped his hatch and powered his battlemech down. He was out of the fight, and she had the sudden sensation that every eye on the field turned to her.
She gritted her teeth, pushed battlemech forward and let the heat sinks do their job. The Crab did what she expected and she saw the damage indicators light up across the battlemech’s shoulder. She had not expected the laser shot that glazed the armor off of her battlemech’s head. The viewport went white for a moment and she roared as she triggered her alpha strike. She couldn’t see very well between the flash of light that had almost taken the head of her mech, and then her mech overheated and stopped moving entirely.
“Dagger, do you wish to continue the fight?” She heard Amelia’s voice over the comms.
“Neg, I am powered down and i’m pretty sure i have a concussion.”
“Then the trial is ended. Jackrabbit, one kill, Dagger, two kills.”
What Dagger hadn’t seen was the accuracy of her blind shooting. She had cored the center torso of the Crab and left most of it’s fusion engine sitting on the ground behind it. Her vision slowly started to clear and she saw the recovery teams moving in to start the exciting task of combat maintenance.
“Well, i have to admit, this was not what i expected to see when i showed up today, but this has certainly been interesting. Ivan, would you care to explain what precisely you are doing here today?” Dagger turned up her sensors to try and figure out where that was coming from. Who was that...the voice was familiar.
“Neg, I am powered down and i’m pretty sure i have a concussion.”
“Then the trial is ended. Jackrabbit, one kill, Dagger, two kills.”
What Dagger hadn’t seen was the accuracy of her blind shooting. She had cored the center torso of the Crab and left most of it’s fusion engine sitting on the ground behind it. Her vision slowly started to clear and she saw the recovery teams moving in to start the exciting task of combat maintenance.
“Well, i have to admit, this was not what i expected to see when i showed up today, but this has certainly been interesting. Ivan, would you care to explain what precisely you are doing here today?” Dagger turned up her sensors to try and figure out where that was coming from. Who was that...the voice was familiar.
“Archon, it is an unexpected pleasure to see you here.” Ivan’s voice answered over the radio.
“All right, you and i are going to have a long conversation about what precisely in the blue hell you are doing, and then we’ll have to figure out what we’re going to do about this.” The woman’s voice called over the radio again.
“Wonderful, we had a bit of family business to take care of, and I am at your disposal again.” Dagger shook her head...that was Melissa...Steiner-Davion...the Archon of the Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth. They were screwed.
“All right, you and i are going to have a long conversation about what precisely in the blue hell you are doing, and then we’ll have to figure out what we’re going to do about this.” The woman’s voice called over the radio again.
“Wonderful, we had a bit of family business to take care of, and I am at your disposal again.” Dagger shook her head...that was Melissa...Steiner-Davion...the Archon of the Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth. They were screwed.
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