Battle at Frostbite Base: Chapter 3

The Dual's core began to malfunction. That last PPC shot may have, unfortunately, overheated some circuits. Speed was roughly reduced by half for the Dual. There! On the far side of the base. Ryan zoomed in on the tall, flat structure not so far away. An open mech hangar. Perhaps some ammunition for salvage on the inside of the hangar. Ryan seemed to have temporarily lost the enemy. Now was the chance. He took advantage of the opportunity to advance the Dual towards the hangar.

Upon arrival, Ryan quickly hid inside and shut the hangar doors by lightly pressing the right arm against a control panel. He stopped the Dual at a loading area. He got out onto the catwalk and just left it there. While walking around, he studied two mechs that were standing there, motionless. One of them was the frightening Daishi. Unfortunately, the weapons have not been loaded on, and it was just a useless walking bucket of bolts.

"Whoever was working here must have been attacked or pushed back by the enemy.." thought Ryan to himself. "And what the hell is that thing?!"

Next to the Daishi stoof a giant Nova Cat. Without even thinking, Ryan decided to board it. He began to warm the engine. While waiting for the Nova Cat to start up, the sound of metal echoed outside of the hangar. It must have been the enemy! But there wasn't any way to tell since the Nova Cat was still starting up. A bright blue flash filled the outline of the hangar doors. Three seconds later, the doors were blown out of their place by a PPC. That could only mean the enemy. Luckily, the doors were blocked from smashing into the Nova Cat by the Daishi's motionless metal body. Just as the enemy was stepping inside, the Nova Cat was fully operational. Ryan's eyes grew.

"What the hell? Seven ER Large lasers?! Who is stupid enough to put that kind of group into a mech! It will overheat faster than Hell on a hot summer day! But I guess I have no choice. But you know.. this Nova Cat is almost bigger than an Atlas! Well.. I pray to God that it has some working heat sinks.. or I'm toast! Judging from the special data on the HUD, there are.. three times the heat sinks? For the love of God!"

(Note: Anyone ever play a CTF game with no heat? This kind of Nova Cat is very commom in those games. I know the 7 ER large should have burned the Nova Cat, but remember, this is a custom one with three times as many heat sinks as any regular Nova Cat.)

Ryan talks too much. Machine gun fire filled the Nova Cat with bullet holes. Ryan maxed the speed of the Nova Cat and busted out of there. In fact, by combining at least four of those ER lasers, he blasted a hole right through the wall and ran through it. The enemy backed off to avoid the same fate as his partner and ran around the corner of the hangar instead. As he came around the side, Ryan was there. The Nova Cat was facing that direction. The four ER lasers had been charged by now and Ryan set the mode to Alpha Strike.

"If this thing burns up, I'M TAKING YOU WITH ME!" Shouted Ryan as he jammed the fire button down."

Immediately, the area turned green with the light of the lasers. Seven beams singed right through the armor of the enemy mech, with no chance of it getting away. A large hole was placed right in the center of the enemy mech's body. It's core was disintegrated and it exploded like a nuclear bomb, causing the small barracks area next to it to collapse and shrapnel to be thrown in every which way. The Nova Cat remained unharmed.

"Am I.. alive?" Ryan raised his head. He took a nasty hit in the head, against the cockpit console from that big bang attack. The first thing Ryan did was check the HUD and the sensor readings. There were no more targets on radar. Amazingly, the heat from all those super heat weapons was quickly being removed by the heat sinks and the coldness of that artic tundra base. What really dazed Ryan, was when he zoomed onto the dead enemy mech. Some of it's armor was totally disintegrated, whilst some was molten and smoking.

"Holy.." Ryan was speechless. He spent a few minutes to relax, then he grinned.

But that grin didn't last long, oh no. A beep on the radar indicated an enemy presence. It was about 900 meters away, and closing slowly, and with his new machine, Ryan didn't care. The com crackled.

"Attention unidentified pilot. This is Commander Jaggah of the pirate fleet occupying this planet. You will be eliminated on sight for destroying my officers. Prepare to die."

[Next time on Chapter 4: Death From Above]