Author's Note: This was written as fan fiction for the Mechwarrior:4
Vengeance / Black Knight league known as NBT-4. Any BattleTech
indiscrepencies are due to the fact that I based this off of the game and
league play, NOT the actual series of novels or sourcebooks!
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Visions
as seen by Kelida Nova Cat
The visions came to me as I finally sat down in my quarters, still clad in
my coolant vest, dripping in sweat, and splattered with blood. They overwhelmed
me as I attempted to relax and ride the waves of post-battle adrenaline,
and there was nothing I could do but wait and see where they took me.
In my dreams, the Dagda feline my clan is named after was dragging itself
from the field of battle, a wounded and sorry heap of flesh. I could see
the slashes in its pelt as surely as I could see the blood droplets on my
own skin -- its sides barely moved as it struggled to breathe, undoubtedly
near death.
The nova cat staggered as far away as it could before finally collapsing,
eyes half-lidded from exhaustion, paws twitching from nerves as it sought
to either rest and regain its strength, or die in peace.
Even near death, the nova cat remained alert. A shadow grew over it, a cloudy,
gray-shrouded form that I could not identify at first. As the shadow moved
closer, I finally realized it was a wolf, coming to finish off our fallen
namesake. The wolf paused before moving closer, sniffing at the feline. The
cat's mane flared up once before it passed out, over-exerted. Startled at
first, the wolf nevertheless held its ground during what appeared to be its
last defense.
The wolf left soon after, stalking back to the fields of battle... unaware
that a single barb had pierced its hide. The visions began to fade, but I
clung to them stubbornly, begging to know what would happen. Was the cat
dead? At last sight, I could not be sure -- that battered flank rose faintly
with each pained breath, but would it survive for long? What of the ruthless
predator, the wolf? Would that poisoned barb even damage the creature, or
would it take hundreds more to bring the beast down?
Even as I begged to know what happened next, the visions left me abruptly.
I awoke with a gasp, shivering wildly. I couldn't tell how long I had been
out of it -- it might have been a minute, it might have been hours. In the
end, I wound up sitting there for much longer than I expected. The visions
needed interpreting, and the matter was much more pressing than the exhaustion
that threatened to overwhelm me once my initial post-battle adrenaline rush
wore off.
In the end, sleep deprivation was nothing I hadn't faced before. Any guidance
at all would be a help in our current situation, so I simply relaxed and
allowed myself to wonder about what I had seen.
For the clan.