The Sequel to "Viper's New Hope"

Same rule here as with my other stories about the random dialogue.

Preview:
Tseng followed up with 12 SRMs, which engulfed Scott's mech in fire. A thick smoke screen lay over the area from the SRMs, covering any remnants from Scott's mech.
"Scott?" Natalie asked over the intercom, "Scott? Are you there?"

Story:

Venom

Prologue
"Ladies and gentlemen we interrupt your currently scheduled program to bring you breaking news from the Free Rasalhague Republic. We take you to Jerri Finchum for more."
The screen switched to a static picture of a woman standing in some sort of military base at night. Explosions lit up the background. "Ladies and gentlemen, dropships have landed on Tukkayid. The Comstar guards are attempting to repel the invaders, which are believed to be Clan forc-" the picture was cut off and returned to the original anchor.
"I have just received word that the invading force is the Clan Steel Viper. This particular clan was one of the leaders during their initial invasion in 3050. We well bring you more after this."

Chapter 1
Tukkayid
Free Rasalhague Republic
                Scott was throttling to NAV Foxtrot, which was the IP inbound to the inner sphere mech factory. He played with the right arm of the Cauldron-Born on the way. I have to get used to these new muscles; my aim has been off since I got the surgery. I have to get used to my strength; I know that now half of my effort given out by that arm is much more then it used to be. If I keep missing with that auto cannon then the ammo will go real fast. Scott was suddenly jolted back to attention by the mech's computer telling him he had reached the waypoint. "Okay, for guards we are looking at a force that is the size of a small planetary garrison. They have one company of mechs, six lances of vehicles, and two lances of aerospace fighters. Expect to hit the aerospace fighters first, we will stay at a distance from the mech factory and take them out. The mechs guarding the factory are light to medium, we should not have much of a problem." Warning lights in Scott's mech went off, he looked at his sensors, then out of the omni-mech to the night sky. "Look sharp people, the two lances of aerospace fighters are coming in. It looks like two F-14S Cheetahs and two SPD-502 Spads. Scott watched the movement of the fighters. They are coming in like a normal bombing run; this should be easy. He pointed the guns of his 65-ton mech into the air. Okay... Now! Twin large lasers lit up the night and made impact with the two Spads. SRMs rained down on the trinary from the remaining Cheetah fighters. The three of Novas in the second star created emerald bars of light in the sky. Out of the 36 medium lasers fired, three made impact, but they were enough to take out the remaining two fighters. I can't believe they actually tried that. "Good work, we will move on now."
As they continued toward the factory a Swift wind ran into the group. One of the Summoners in his Star took care of the car without any problem. They are being careful, they want us to go up against everything at once.
After ten more minuets of walking, they came to a hill that over looks the factory. "I want all of the Summoners and Novas to stay below the crest of the hill. Everyone in a Timberwolf, Maddog, or Hellbringer come to the top with me, we are going to pick off the vehicles. Shoot the turret control building first, then go after the vehicles." The Maddogs focused their fire on the turret control building as their array of pulse lasers and LRMs pierced the darkness. The explosion of the tower lit up a portion of the base. A dim fire remained in the rubble of the tower. "All units attack your vehicle."
Within a matter of minuets the six lances of vehicles were gone, and the mechs were approaching. They all picked out their mech to fight one on one; Scott's was a 55-ton Grim Reaper. First he fired his large lasers, he watched the armor melt off the mech then fired his medium pulse lasers for the same effect. He fired his medium lasers and Ultra AC 20 with split second intervals. The medium lasers hit the right torso of the mech. The auto cannon, from his right arm, went wide. Darn! I have to get used to that arm. The Grim Reaper shot its medium lasers at him. Two made impact in his leg, the third missed, putting a scorch mark in the ground past his foot. Scott returned with his large lasers into the mech's right torso, then fired his medium pulse lasers to finish the mech. He sat still for a few seconds to let the mech cool down, but the mech was suddenly rocked, and warning lights went off for his rear armor. He turned around to see a 45-ton Hatchetman raising its axe again for another blow. He fired the ultra AC 20 from point blank range, which caused the explosion to destroy the cannon. He then used the right arm as a battering ram and punched the Hatchetman in the center torso, which made it fall down, he fired his set of pulse lasers to eat through the armor further. The pilot ejected to spare his life. Scott looked around and saw no more weapon fire. "All units report to your star leader." He heard confirmation from the 4 Summoners in his star. Then the others report no losses. "Good work everyone, not one loss. Now, how about torching this place?"

Chapter 2
Scott was relieved by the cool air that hit him as the cockpit of his mech opened. He was blinded at first by the lights in the temporary mech bay. The access ladder dropped from the side of the off-center pod his cockpit was in. As he reached the floor he was met by some of his starmates. He called over an engineer for a moment. "How long until our next mission?"
"I do not know. Why?" He responded.
"Take a look at the right arm and back armor, then you will know." Scott said. He dismissed the tech then continued on his way. He looked at his right arm and slowly rotated it. I think if I spend more time in the simulators it will help me get used to this arm.
As he was walking down the hall to his quarters he was met by Natalie, one of the Summoner pilots in his star, and Mathew, a Maddog pilot and the commander of the second star. Natalie gave her normal greeting and Mathew came up and gave Scott a playful punch on the right arm, hurting his hand in the process. "Smart one Mathew."
"I forgot." he returned as he cradled his hand.
"How is the arm coming Scott?" Natalie asked.
"I am still trying to get used to it. My aim is off a lot of the time with that arm, but not as much as it used to be." Scott replied.
"Well that is at least better then before." Mathew said still rubbing his hand. Scott looked over and saw that his hand was bleeding.
"You might want to get that checked out." He suggested
"I will just put some bandages on it" Mathew replied.
"Try to remember not to do that again." Natalie said.
"Thank you, I will try." Mathew said sarcastically. "What gives you the right to say that anyway?"
"I do not punch metal objects." Natalie responded.
"Oh, right."
"Anyway, if you two are finished, maybe we should go to the bar?" Scott chimed in. "Figured I would ask that seeing as we are about to pass it."

Chapter 3
Scott pulled his mech to the left as hard as he could to avoid the incoming pulse lasers. He took aim with the right arm and shot his ultra heavy auto cannon. The twin shells found their mark hitting the left arm and torso of the Mad Dog. The other mech fired its array of pulse lasers again; being too close to make use out of it's LRMs. The lasers all struck home in different parts of Scott's mech. He tried to fire the auto cannon again but this time all that was produced was a clicking sound. He fired his large lasers to make up for the missing auto cannon shells, hitting the right torso of the other mech. The Mad Dog fired its pulse lasers at intervals of a second hitting the legs of Scott's Cauldron- Born. Scott fired his flamer at the mech to make the heat rise even more, but doing little damage. I need to end this now. Scott pushed his mech at full speed toward the Mad Dog then, at the last second, slid into the leg knocking it clear off the mech. Scott was sliding too slow though, the Mad Dog was about to fall on his mech. The screen went blank, and the simulator door opened to a massive applause. Scott met Mathew and shook his hand. "Who won?" Scott asked.
"Neither of us. When my mech fell on yours it cracked both of our reactor shieldings." Mathew replied.
"Nice fight." Scott commented
"You too. You are getting used to the arm I see." Mathew said.
"Well, more. I still sent more auto cannon shells into the ground then into your mech."
"I received a hurting from you though."

Chapter 4
Scott fired his heavy ultra auto cannon to finish off his opponent, a Rifleman. A pair of Javelins picked him out and started firing at him. Well there goes Zellbriggin. He fired two blasts from his heavy ultra auto cannon that knocked the mech down.  He fired his lasers to rip through the armor and destroy the mech, and one of the Timberwolves in his third star took care of the other Javelin. Scott found some free time from the battle so he stomped around the base looking for the communication building. Amazing, once we get this base destroyed we will be able to advance off of this planet. It was a good two weeks of fighting but we didn't really have any doubts. He continued his search through the base, his sight hindered by the early morning mist. I can barely see through this fog. Wait. Shrouded by the atmospheric cover, Scott could barely make out a black antenna rising from behind the hanger to his right. There it is. He rounded the corner only to find 180 tons of powered down enemy. I better take them out before the pilots get in. As he finished the thought the two mechs, an Atlas and a Zeus, powered up. Scott was able to hid his mech and turn the sensors off before they noticed him. The mechs started walking in circles around the communication array. That communication building is not very heavy, if I drop it on them it won't do much damage, I need to find a heavier building. Scott looked around for an alternative solution. That training center is good and heavy. I will have to weaken the foundation of the building though. How do I do that with out them hearing me? Wait, I have some explosives in my survival pack, if I can find some key structural points to plant them I can make that topple over. At least I can weaken the foundation and finish it with my own weapons. I will lose a lot of ground adding my own firepower, that will not mater as much with the Atlas, he is short ranged, but that Zeus could hit me with its PPCs. I will lace the building with explosives first and then worry about that.
Scott powered down his mech and released the access ladder. He placed some of the explosives at the corners of the building on the side he would run along. He found a large crack in the base of the building. This is an old building, the structure is weakened already, I seem to be lucky today. He placed more explosives in the crack then made his way back to his Cauldron-Born. Before he climbed up the rope ladder he looked around the corner to see the communication building, which turned out to only be a tower. Good that gives me an idea. He got as close as he felt safe to the tower, which was about 50 meters from it. He drew his laser pistol and aimed for the near legs of the tower. Carefully with his left hand he lined up the shot and pulled the trigger when he was sure that neither of the mechs were looking, the Zeus was on the far side of the tower looking away and the Atlas was pacing on one of the adjacent sides of the tower. He lightly melted the tower's base and then left it. That should weaken it enough.
Scott darted back to his mech and climbed the access ladder with his heart beating heavily. He shut the cockpit and powered up the mech then thought out his plan. I need to make the tower fall on the Zeus, that will tangle him up and the Atlas will come after me, by the time we reach the building the Zeus should have caught up and I hit the detonator for the bombs. No more mechs.
He leaned the mech out to start his plan, He fired his Ultra AC 20 at the radio tower, which let out a loud creak and fell on top of the Zeus who struggled to get out. The Atlas gave pursuit as predicted. Scott ran dodging fire from the enemy mech. As he passed the building he fingered the trigger to the explosives. As the Atlas approached Scott hit the trigger and the building toppled over onto the mech. Wait, where is the- A Zeus hit him from behind with it's twin PPCs. Scott fired his array of lasers and dodged to the left where he was impeded by a wall. In a desperate attempt he pushed his feet hard against the ferro-crete and pushed through the wall of the building. He fell to the ground of a mech bay; the pain going through his body made him paralyzed for a moment. He brought himself back and started to aim his guns to where he expected the Zeus to be when it would look in the hole. Once in he hole Scott remained motionless to conceal his position. After the enemy mech turned on its searchlight Scott unleashed every weapon he had at the mech, it stumbled to the ground and the reactor blew. The remnants of the wall and the debris over his mech shielded him well from the blast. After about ten minutes of lying in the rubble he eased his mech to its feet and looked at the damage display. This thing can take a beating.

Chapter 5
Scott watched the sphere that was Tukkayid grow smaller and smaller as his egg shaped drop ship went farther from the planet. The ship has stopped its thrust so the gravity started dropping. Scott started to feel his feet lift off the ground and placed his right hand around a rail to keep him from floating to other parts of the ship. He turned his head to face the other side of the observation deck, looking at the drop ship's destination, the jump ship. Those Spheroids think that the jump ships are lostech. As well they were, but our scientists have figured out how to build jump ships. Though they are a lower Caste they deserve some recognition for that. I wonder if we will have such an easy time fighting on Corridan IV.
The drop ship docked with the jump ship. He walked off of the drop ship and pulled himself down a long windowed hall by a rail. The section of the jump ship had no gravity, which made walking difficult. I wonder... He grabbed the rail by his right hand and flung himself down the hall as fast as he could. The hall he was in went the length of the jump ship. He started to slow down but still went the entire kilometer of the drop ship. He placed his arms out in front of him to cushion his impact with the wall. Stronger then I thought. Lights shone and sirens whaled, they were making the jump to Corridan IV.

Chapter 6
Corridan IV
Freedom Theater
Lyran Alliance
The only glow in the night was the flames from the jump cradles. Only a militia on this planet, we should have it in a matter of days. His cockpit was black, as he did not turn any of the systems on yet. The mech made a soft landing. Wait... That should not have happened, a 65-ton machine does not land that easily, unless... He started up the mech, turned on the searchlight and look around. For the love of Kerensky! We landed in the blasted swamp!
"Be careful everyone, we are going to have to move very slowly. Be on the look out for hover tanks, they can rip us apart in here." As if on cue, a group of Savannah Masters crossed the crest of a hill and made there way in, shooting their lasers. They focused first on the Novas. "Use your jump jets. Get above them and then shoot!" He yelled over the intercom. He quickly caught sight of one moving to his back, he pretended not to notice it. When it got behind him he stepped backwards crushing the tank. After a few moments of fighting the Masters had been destroyed with only minimal damage taken to his Trinary. It took nearly an hour to get out of the swamp, by that time the militia was ready.
They were met by ambushing mechs. Scott's mech was rocked by auto cannon fire from his left side. He turned the torso of his mech to see where the fire came from. An agromech? They must really be desperate. What is that in his hand, an AC 5? The mech closed on Scott and raised it's set of plows and blades to dig into the thick armor. As the hand came down, Scott shot a heavy ultra auto cannon shell into his arm, blowing the array of blades off of the arm. The mech staggered backwards, and Scott slammed the left arm of his mech into the agro's midsection making it fall down. He shot his array of energy weapons to finish it. A set of large lasers hit his back followed by several pulse lasers. He turned to face a Penetrator He hit the mech with everything he had. The heat started to spike in his cockpit from the energy weapons. The enemy mech tried to hide in the buildings, but they were only small village buildings and did not provide good cover. Scott ran his mech to the left of the enemy and fired his Ultra AC 20. One shell hit the arm and the other crushed the cockpit, killing the pilot. The rest of the Trinary had taken out the rest of the defenses in the area. "The drop ships can land now, the defense in this area are destroyed."

Chapter 7
"The militia has set themselves in pretty well. The main base is on top of the tallest hill in this range. It will be hard to attack but it can be done. Remember we are superior in everyway to them. We are yet to encounter a single loss in this invasion. The main target is the power generator. Once that is destroyed then we can take out the base fairly easily. There are two more on this planet like this, one on each continent. We have these to take out, then our invasion route takes us to Skye, Dieron, and then finally, Terra." Khan Perigard Zalmon stepped down from the podium he was standing at. After he left the room, the rest followed him into the mech bay. Scott stopped an Engineer on his way to his mech.
"Is my mech done yet?"
"Yes sir the changes are complete."
"Okay, good." He climbed the access ladder to his mech and retracted it into the off-center pod the cockpit was in. He shut the door and started turning everything on; double-checking his configuration was the right one. A voice came over the communication system.
"I am all strapped in and ready to go chief." Mathew said. He had a habit of calling Scott chief because he was the Trinary's commander.
"Me too Scott." Natalie chimed in.
"All right, time to rock 'n roll." Scott said
"What?" Natalie questioned.
"Old expression, sorry about the contraction."
"No problem." Natalie responded with uncertainty in her voice. The Khan's voice fills all of their cockpits.
"Get ready everyone, we are moving out."

Chapter 8
George looked out of his Cestus and down into the valley to the east of the militia base. What possible significance could this planet hold that the Clans would want to attack it? George was part of the Northwind Highlanders. The Highlanders were hired by Comstar to aid in protecting the new invasion corridor. He was scanning the bumpy horizon when a weak radio message came in.
"This is bravo one, reporting contact with the clan forces-" The message, nearly inaudible due to the static cut off. George turned his mech around to the southwest as fast as he could. Bravo lance was not to far in that direction. He started to move his mech to the site of the explosion.
"Delta two, hold position, we're gona need you around when they get here." The commander ordered.
"Bravo lance needs help! You want me to let them die?" George responded.
"You're gona be dead if you go by yourself. Remember, these guys are clanners, you're not gona take on an entire cluster of them on your own." George hesitated to answer.
"Yes sir!" He responded.
In ten minutes the clanners arrived and the battle had started. The first mech that George saw was a Hellhound. George took the initiative with his twin large lasers. One found itself in the omni-mech's SRM rack and exploded the ammunition. The mech then took to the air, and George joined him. As the mechs neared each other, George stepped on his jump jets more, and rose above the mech. There was the crack of a sonic boom as George fired his gauss rifle into the cockpit of the Hellhound. He landed his mech and looked for another opponent. The next one was a mech of the same weight, a Cauldron-Born.

Chapter 9
Scott watched the skillful Cestus pilot defeat the Conjurer. It was his turn. Scott opened the fight by firing his heavy ultra auto cannon. The Cestus pilot avoided it and fired back with its large lasers. Ruby beams of light cut into the Cauldron-Born's heavy armor plating. Scott shot his large lasers back. One emerald shaft dug into the left torso of the mech; the other hit the ground, just wide of his foot. The Cestus got closer and closer. Scott was swinging the boxy arm of his mech at the enemy. As his arm started moving, the other mech fired its jump jets. And avoided the swing. His reaction times... Scott swung his torso around the other way and swung his other arm over. The mech feathered its jump jets and avoided the swing yet again. It is unnatural, he is reacting too fast...

Chapter 10
George landed his mech away from the Cauldron-Born. He heard some occasional yelling on the intercom over his heavy breathing. He faintly heard an order to retreat. I can't get out now, not with this Cauldron-Born on me. His stomach tightened and a quick image flashed in the back of his head. George turned his mech and stepped backwards at the same time, as he did two auto cannon shells flew right past his cockpit. What's wrong with me? George was brought out of his thought by a voice over the intercom.
"It has come to my attention that your forces are retreating. I have never witnessed such skill in a spheroid pilot as I have in you. I shall let you retreat with them." It was the pilot of the Cauldron-Born. George hesitated for a moment.
"Thank you, until we meet again." Was his only response. George set off for the Dropship.

Chapter 11
Scott watched the Cestus get away. An amazing pilot for the Inner Sphere. His reaction time is outstanding; they rival even mine. Very odd. I look forward to fighting him again.
"Something wrong Scott?" He heard over the intercom. It was Natalie.
"What? Oh, no, nothing." How could that pilot avoid everything I did? I only hit him once. It is almost as if he knew what I was going to do before I did it.
"New Kent to Masters. Are you there? That is the second time you spaced out." Natalie said again.
"Oh, sorry." Scott responded
"Come on, we have to get to the Drop Ship, The reinforcements are here."
"Okay, I am on my way."

Chapter 12
George was sitting in his bunk, leaned over with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands meeting between his legs. What is happening to me? It's almost like I can see into the future. George's thoughts were interrupted when an old family friend, Cody, entered the room. He was an older man that had just about raised George after his father died.
"George, how's it goin'?"
"Could be better."
"What is it about these things you keep seeing?"
"It's strange," George was slow to respond, "I see something happen real quick in the back of my mind, then it happens. It's like I'm seeing into the future." Cody paused for a minute
"George, you never knew your mother, did you?"
"No, I don't remember her at all."
"I doubt you know this then."
"Know what?"
"Your mother, she was from Clan Nova Cat."
"Clan Nova Cat? What difference does that make?"
"The Nova Cats are known for having these types of visions; your mother was an epically gifted one. It's no surprise that you inherited that ability."
"Wow..."
"I don't know quite how you can learn how to use this. Some of the guys in here from the Draconis Combine might know how to. They've hung around those Nova Cats for a while. In the mean time, get ready. Skye is the next planet on the Viper's list, so that's where we're going."

Chapter 13
Skye
Skye Province
Lyran Alliance
Scott scanned the ground as he fell to the planet's surface by way of jump cradles. "Hmm, desert, desert, and look at that, more desert." Scott said.
"Hey Mathew, look who decided to grow a sense of humor." Natalie said
"Oh, you mean I am not the Trinary jester anymore?" Mathew asked.
"Ha ha guys, very funny," Scott replied. "Remember everyone," he continued, "They will be in ballistic heavy mechs. If you can keep dodging shots it should be a relatively easy fight." The trinary landed and moved through their waypoints until they reached a ridge before a base. "It looks like two companies, should be as easy as taking a planet from the Rim Collection." The trinary approached the base and met the defenders, two companies strong. Strange, their paint is the same green and plaid pattern as on Corridan. Scott's first opposition was a Yeoman packing 2 LRM 15 packs and 2 LRM 10 packs. Those missile racks are too easy to hit. Twin bolts of blue lighting shot from Scott's mech and made impact on separate missile racks, destroying the ammo, and crippling the mech. The next enemy Scott saw was an 85-ton Black Watch. The humanoid mech stood on top of a small hill and unleashed a barrage of 40 medium range missiles from the missile rack on its left shoulder. He raised the left arm of the mech, which consisted of a human like hand and a barrel resting on the forearm. A ferro-nickel gauss slug came from the barrel and lodged itself into one of Scott's unused missile racks. Scott responded with his large pulse lasers. Broken streaks of emerald energy left scorches in a diagonal pattern from the Black Watch's lower left torso to its upper right. Scott then shot his PPCs into the right shoulder of the enemy mech, rendering its ultra 10 auto cannon useless. The Black Watch took another shot with its light gauss rifle, this time going wide. Scott was trying not to let the immense heat get to him as he took one more shot with his large pulse lasers, hitting the MRM rack and, once again, destroying the ammunition. The explosion tore open the cockpit of the mech and killed the pilot.
Then Scott saw it. The Cestus. The very same one he fought on Corridan, it had to be. "Spheroid Cestus pilot, this is Star Captain Scott Master of the Clan Steel Viper. I believe we met back on Corridan four. I hereby challenge you to a duel of warriors. In this solemn matter, let no one interfere."

Chapter 14
"Spheroid Cestus pilot, this is Star Captain Scott Master of the Clan Steel Viper. I believe we met back on Corridan four. I hereby challenge you to a duel of warriors. In this solemn matter, let no one interfere." George could not believe it. Is it the same the Cauldron-Born pilot? It has to be.
"What do you say Cestus pilot? Shall we finish what we started on Corridan?"
"Star Captain Scott Masters, this is Lieutenant first class George Patrick of the Northwind Highlanders. I hereby accept your challenge to a duel of warriors. By Clan code, I give you my honor that no one else in my unit will interfere with the battle."
"Very well George, are you prepared?"
"Yes, I am."
"Then this duel officially begins." The duel started, and George's visions started to kick in again. He saw the PPC being shot from Scott's mech, and hit his jump jets. As he took to the air, Scott fired his PPCs, which passed below George's feet. George returned fire with his gauss rifle, which went wide. As he landed he dodged his mech to the left, and large pulse lasers sliced the space where George's mech was an instant earlier. His twin large lasers cut into the ground in between and to the right of Scott's legs, turning the impacted sand into glass. Scott's medium pulse lasers struck home in the torso of George's mech. George returned with another blast from his large lasers. One made contact with an arm of Scott's, which did little more then leave it black. Both mechs gained a steady footing and stood still for a moment, staring each other down. An explosion flared in the background, and a light wind blew across the field, kicking up some sand.
"We're equally matched," George said.
"Indeed we are. Just entertain this one question for me," Scott responded.
"Which is?"
"You have an uncanny reaction time. How?"
"Visions," was George's only response.
"Visions?"
"Yes, my mother was from Clan Nova Cat. I inherited some special abilities from her."
"Clan Nova Cat..." Scott trailed off. Static and some commands blared over George's communication circuit.
"I hate to do this to you again, Star Captain, but I'm going to have to cut playtime short." George informed Scott.
"I understand, until we meet again Lieutenant."

Chapter 15
Dieron
Al Na'ir Prefecture
Draconis Combine
Scott stepped his mech out of the Dropship and into a vast forest on one of Dieron's many mountain ranges. Well the scenery is a bit more interesting then on Skye.
"Finally, we get to walk out of the dropship; I was starting to feel like a frog with all that jumping we were doing." Mathew said.
"Mathew, I think that was the worst analogy I have ever heard." Scott replied.
"I have to agree with Scott on that one," Natalie added. There was silence on the radio, and then a heavy sigh.
"Let's get the area cleaned out," Scott said. The trinary patrolled their area for about an hour with out a contact.
"All's quiet on the western front." Natalie said with a smirk.
"What?" Mathew asked.
"It is an extremely old book, more then a thousand years old. About Terra's first great war." Scott informed him.
"Oh," Mathew trailed, "Okay."
"Scott," Natalie said, " I have something on my sensors."
"What is it?" Scott asked
"One mech, light." Natalie replied, "It's an Adder."
"An Adder?" Just then 14 more mechs powered up.
"Clan Steel Viper, this is Star Captain Wade Tseng of the Clan Ghost Bear. You are ordered to power down your mechs and surrender."
"Neg. Star Captain Wade Tseng, this is Star Captain Scott Masters of the Clan Steel Viper, we refute your order and challenge you to a trial of possession for this sector." What is Ghost Bear doing here?
"Very well then, Masters. I accept your challenge." As he said that, a 100-ton Kodiak rose into the air on its jump jets. It landed 100 meters in front of Scott and shot its Ultra 20 auto cannon. One shell made contact with the empty missile rack, the other with Scott's torso. Scott shot his twin PPCs in response. Blue-white lightning struck on opposite sides of the Kodiak's torso. He followed it with his large pulse lasers hitting the same two places. Tseng answered with his 8 medium lasers. The lasers strung themselves out across Scott's mech. Tseng followed up with 12 SRMs, which engulfed Scott's mech in fire. A thick smoke screen lay over the area from the SRMs, covering any remnants from Scott's mech.
"Scott?" Natalie asked over the intercom, "Scott? Are you there? Scott!" There was only silence.
"Chief?" Mathew asked. He slowly approached the smoke cloud. Before he got there, twin bolts of lighting shot from the cloud and struck Tseng's mech. The energy from the PPC blasts speeded up the dissipation of the smoke cloud to shows Scott's badly damaged mech. Scott shot one of his large pulse lasers and a medium pulse, striking near the cockpit of the mech. He shot his PPCs into the barrel of Tseng's Ultra 20 auto cannon. The PPCs ignited the ammo, which blew the head off of the Kodiak.
"Clan Ghost Bear trinary," Scott said breathing heavily, "Star Captain Wade Tseng is destroyed. I hereby take you as bondsmen. You now serve the Clan Steel Viper."

Chapter 16
It took the techs a week to repair Scott's mech, but his right arm took only 30 minutes to reset the circuits. He was back out on short-range recon patrol. The Vipers were running single point patrols. Scott was moving through a small valley when he was contacted.
"Star Captain Masters." A voice came over his comm. system. Scott recognized the voice.
"Lieutenant Patrick. So nice to see you again."
"I'm challenging you this time to a duel of warriors. Maybe we can finally finish what we started two planets ago." George stepped out of the brush in a different mech this time. A new clan Linebacker in the green and plaid print of the Northwind Highlanders. This mech was equal to that of Scott's Cauldron-Born, right down to the lack of a torso twist. They both stepped into the center of the valley and stood still for a moment. "So who rings the bell?" George asked.
"Ding, ding."

Chapter 17
George took to the offensive first, knowing that Scott would stand still for a moment. He fired his twin PPCs. One hit Scott's leg, the other went wide. Scott responded with his duel PPCs, which were dodged by George. How can I beat someone that knows what I will do before I do it. Scott shot his Pulse lasers but to no avail. George responded with shots from his SRM 4 pack and LRM 5s. The missiles kicked up the ground around Scott. He backed out of the barrage and shot his medium pulse lasers back at George, who had circled around him at this point. After a PPC blast that followed from Scott's mech he charged George. George shot his PPCs again; one struck in front of Scott, the next went wide. Scott's mech made impact with George's mech, and the two went tumbling down a hill and into a lake. Scott was the first one up; he scanned the murky waters for George's mech. Is he out? Scott scanned the waters more for George. To his left the water flew up, when it settled George's mech was standing there, in as good condition as Scott's. "Time for round two George." This is going to be a good fight.

To be continued...

Ghost Rider {CSV}