"Three incoming drones, Koshimitsu." Came the mechwarrior's voice.
In his 'mech, Jun laid his crosshair down on the nearest of the approaching drones, small disposable 'mechs. Not that a 'mech is disposable though. At just more then five hundred meters away, the fifteen-ton training mech proved an easy enough target. Slow for their size, and unarmed, all the drones were good for was target practice, which Jun was undergoing. He'd recovered quickly enough from the debacle with the No-Dachi II a few days ago, suffering only a minor concussion. Vincent hadn't stopped his training of Jun in the ways of a mechwarrior, but he did take it easier on him this day, letting Jun practice weapons use instead of another day of piloting in the extreme conditions of the moon.
A bolt of energy darted from his 'mech, the man-made lightning bolt of one of Jun's ER-PPCs lancing out to strike a drone down. The blast sheared off an arm, and the side-effect of the weapon's high electrical discharge stunned the drone long enough for Jun to get a better aim on it, and fire off another PPC beam, which finished it off. The heat in his cockpit jumped with each shot, but thankfully the cooling vest and the additional heat sinks helped bleed that off, along with the triple-myomer system, which fed off the heat to function effectively.
Dancing the fine line of heat was one of the most important secondary skills, if not the most, that a mechwarrior needed. Vincent had pounded that piece of advice into Jun's mind, recounting countless stories where countless mechwarriors had victory snatched away from their grasp all because of being unable to run the line of heat. At that time Jun had agreed with Vincent and spoken his understanding. Kaiden had butt in though, saying that pain was the best teacher, and in Jun's case recounting all the stories would hardly be effective.
Much to Jun's chagrin, the old man had proved right, and he had "died" due to overheating in his first simulated run. This time around though, he was much better. Or he'd like to believe anyway, keeping the heat gauge just in range of his peripheral vision to see how hot he was running. It wasn't too hard, especially since he'd been forcing himself to train hard the last few days on his own time. He'd taken Kaiden's lesson to heart, and wished to avoid or reduce whatever pains would be coming for him.
The next two drones went down quickly enough, as Jun threw out two more PPC shots, one for each. He managed a torso hit on one drone, which was enough to pierce its armor and fry its circuits, while he got a head shot on the second one which had closed to less then half a klick. None of the drones had closed to a range where he'd be forced to use his pair of pulse lasers yet, or his katana that rested easily in his mech's right arm.
"Not bad, that was only about three minutes. Your accuracy has improved over the past few days." Vincent came on the channel again, commenting on Jun's performance. His second statement was true; Jun hadn't done much besides target practice against drones, which were admittedly slow, moving at the speed of heavies more or less, though at times Vincent sent a few fast ones along to change the pace, but all had only the armor of the lightest mechs. "Now that your warm up is over, I'll launch the next level of your combat training. Good luck."
The vision field around Jun faded and shifted, and now displayed a barren plain, with a few large mesas dotting the landscape. He was familiar with the scenario. Here, heat was a greater issue then in the last one, with temperatures hitting a high forty Celsius. The heat factor in his 'mech would be greater, but as long as he was careful, he'd be fine.
"Incoming enemy hostiles, drones like before. Time cap is thirty minutes as usual, not that you need it, you have ten targets to destroy."
"Copy that, proceeding to engage." Jun had finished this level of training already, and dispatched his foes one by one. Besides the increased heat factor, in this scenario he was facing a slightly increased number of drones, all equipped with heavier but still light armor, the ability to avoid his attacks, and equipped with light weapons. While this all added to increase the challenge quite a bit when taken together, it was still an easy match. It only took two PPC shots per mech, sometimes one if he struck near the head. He finished the scenario quickly, sustaining no damage to his mech as in the first one.
"Good, good, but we have yet to push your ability to move and fight much however. Keep the work up. Next scenario is loading."
Again the screen changed, this time to a warm swampland. Jun hated this scenario for many reasons, not the least was which the deep and thick mud he had to slog through, as well as the heat, which was little better then the wasteland temps. His foes here was a mix of light hovercraft, which would test accuracy more, and the two groups of drones, again upgraded with a slight increase in armor, speed, and firepower.
He'd finished this level as well, though unlike the last two engagements, which were easy, this one had a slight degree of challenge, though it was still low. He made use of his mech's relative mobility aided with the jump jets he'd added to it, to attain a terrain advantage over the two waves of five drones. He finished those off first before taking down the hovercraft, which were scattered in groups of three over the swamp area. He did better then before of course, like in the previous levels, and finished in little more then ten minutes.
It was the next level that frustrated him most despite his superior mech, as instead of just drones, he faced a mixed enemy composition and it was set in the middle of a desert with the terrain set against him. There were three waves of mechs for him to defeat, and four waves of vehicles. The first mech wave was all drones like before, again their specs and fighting ability boosted slightly over those of the least scenario. A Panther however led the second wave, albeit a lighter mech, but it performed with what Jun saw as above average skill. The next and last mech wave was a star of light mechs of IS technology, composed of a pair of Razorbacks, an Osiris, a Wasp, and led by a Clan Cougar.
He always lost against them, since the terrain rendered his melee ability useless, and his foes were far faster then his mech. The Cougar was content to pick at him from medium range, dancing on the limits of his pulse lasers, which he would have liked to use to chew away at their light armor before dealing a heavy blow with his ER-PPCs. However, he was forced to use his PPCs, and heat often kept him unable to react fast enough.
Not this time though. He thought to himself with a small smile, as the first wave of vehicles approached him and were shot down in succession. He brought the warmachines down with pinpoint accuracy, no longer restraining himself. He had learned much over the past few days and his ability to shoot down his targets when one the move had increased greatly. The last of the vehicles, a Fortune, went down with a double-blast from his PPCs, his use of his jumpjets barely avoiding the salvos of autocannon shots it fired at him. His mech was still in fine shape though, with only his rear torso slightly damaged.
Then came the first wave of mechs, which he dealt with in time, weathering their attacks easily, and suffering again minimal damage. The next waves of enemy craft came along, then another wave of drones and the Panther, which lost to him in the PPC duel. The final challenge then lay before him, as the star of light mechs bore down on him. He knew they would come at three points, and he readied his trap. He thrust his katana down into a small J.Edgar hovertank, and proceeded to the place where the first set of mechs would come from. As they ran over the sand dune, Jun managed to place a horizon shot on one of the Razorbacks, the strike slowing it down.
The second one came on, firing its ER Laser at him, and scoring a hit on his torso armor, scarring it before he could react fast enough to dodge the attack. He shrugged it off though, and returned fire with a blast of his torso PPCs. One missed his target by just a bit, the azure beam lancing past the Razorback's head. The other one though struck the light mech's SRM module right on, causing crackles of electricity to ignite all over it. The mech shuddered as the errant shocks of power ignited the ammunition of the launcher and caused it to explode. The powerful blast effectively put the mech out of the fight, as it slowed and toppled over on its side.
He focused fire again on the first Razorback, this time using his pulse lasers to melt away the protection of the mech. More often then not, he managed to score a hit, thanks to the rapid firing rate of the weapons. The lightly armored mech soon succumbed to his measured, but unrelenting fire, and none too soon for the moment he finished off the enemy mech incoming fire from the Osiris pelted the sand by his feet, and managed to disrupt his balance as his legs felt the impact of a few hits by the mech's ER Lasers.
He spun around quickly, manipulating his jump jets with the foot controls delicately to spin faster. The sand swirled around him as the thrust provided by the jump jets stirred the loose particles into a veritable storm, which he hoped served as a secondary cover for him. True, he was just as blinded, but he already knew more or less how the Osiris was going to react.
One, two…He leaped his mech out of the sandstorm and found himself staring straight into the light mech's weapons. The sudden appearance of Jun right in front of it gave it pause, and it hesitated for a moment before wildly firing. Before the Osiris could react fast enough to aim though, the No-Dachi II's fist flashed upwards to smash the mech backwards and sent it stumbling backwards in the sand, its footing unstable in the shifting sands. Jun didn't let up, and continued his attack, firing his set of PPCs at the Osiris and slagging its armor.
The continued fire bounced up the heat again, and warning lights flashed. He felt the steam and hot air rush all around him, causing the Koshimitsu to sweat. He almost forgot that he was in a simulator, with the simmering heat and the shuddering and all. The Osiris went down quickly enough after that.
Three down, two more to go.
The scream of missiles filled the air, and twenty Clan LRMs exploded magnificently against the desert sand around him, and on him. Shards of his armor flew off as six of the missiles struck his side, causing enough damage to crack through his armor and render one ER-PPC useless from damage. He turned to face the Cougar, the 'mech lightly running, sending cerulean beams of light from its two pulse lasers out at him. The beams burned brightly against his torso armor, sending globs of melted metal to the desert floor.
He quickly retaliated with his own array of weapons, his remaining ER-PPC lancing out to snag the Cougar's arm. He tried for a positive lock, and tried for enough lead for his twin pulse lasers to fire and strike the Cougar, hitting the enemy mech dead center. Almost like it waited for him, he got the lock he needed his hands guiding the crosshair with unnerving confidence. At the same time, he fired LRM-10 rack he'd been saving up for the occasion, and aided by the Artemis IV FCS most of the missiles hit home as well, cracking the armor he'd weakened with his successive shots of pulse lasers.
The missiles ravaged the Cougar, who'd tried to avoid the salvo with the use of its jump jets, but he had prepared the LRMs and the Artemis just for this occasion.
In the past fights the Cougar had managed to avoid a significant number of his PPC shots with the accursed jump jets, and the use of three PPCs in the desert was practically heat-suicide much to his misfortune. LRMs however, and Clan-tech ones at that, were far more effective, and it gave him a reliably accurate weapon to use against the Cougar. Without the advantage to wear the No-Dachi II down like before, and with the ability to strike with far more accuracy, the light Clan mech fell to the superior firepower of the No-Dachi II in a short time.
He smiled broadly now, savoring the sweet taste of victory of the Cougar, admittedly a computer controlled one, but it was still a victory. Now there was just the Wasp left, and being the lightest of all his foes, he was sure it would go down without much of a fight. He glanced down to check his sensor screens for the lone red dot that would be waiting. Before he could do so though, the crack-whine of a Gauss rifle reached his ears.
Gauss rifle? Almost instinctively, he smashed down on his controls. The split-second it took for the rifle shot to hit him gave him enough time to avoid what otherwise would have been a shot straight into the ravaged side of the No-Dachi II, and would have undoubtedly finished him off there and then. As it was, instead of destroying internal structure, the rifle slug knocked off what remained of his left torso armor. The profile of a Shadow Cat appeared to him through the smoke of the carcasses of his fallen opponents, a pair of lasers burning through it to damage his arm.
What the? This wasn't part of the scenario! As those words echoed in his mind he realized how foolish they sounded. On the battlefield, nothing was absolutely constant, he reminded himself. He was still annoyed of the change though, knowing that a Shadow Cat was a far more dangerous opponent then a mere Wasp.
He turned to face it, and the duel began.
Stifling warmth suffused his whole cockpit, and the trickles of sweat he once was bearing with became more like a river as it continued to rise as he was forced to fire more and more against the fast moving Shadow Cat. His irritation grew as the Clan mech avoided another paired PPC shot, and so far all he had been able to get against it were some hits with his pulse lasers and LRMs, which was rendered less effective even with the Artemis because of the Shadow Cat's LAMS, which managed to cut down about a third of the incoming fire.
The Shadow Cat on the other hand was having a much easier time shooting at his larger and slower mech, despite Jun's best efforts to avoid the incoming fire. He soon realized that Vincent's words were very true. While he'd managed to develop an uncanny sense of accuracy at shooting down his opponents, the fact was that in most of those engagements he'd only had to do positional movement, or tactical movement. His ability to take down his opponents before they could properly lay down fire on him had in effect hindered his development of being able to perform combat-movement and shooting.
The revelation was both a boost to his pride at one skill, but also a tear down of it at his blindness.
Too late to learn that right now…He set his jaw in place and doggedly kept on the fight despite the fact that here he was probably outmatched. After all those waves of drones, light mechs, and tanks, he couldn't brute force his way to victory in this duel. He bit down a curse when another silver slug smashed into his 'mech, tearing off the No-Dachi II's left arm. Without the last PPC, and with his LRM ammo nearly depleted, there was no way he could win now.
Wait, he paused, an idea forming in his mind. He suddenly remembered the sword he'd struck through the J. Edgar before the current star of 'mechs had engaged him, which he had originally planned to use in a back-up plan against either the Razorbacks, Osiris or Wasp, which were short-range and medium-range mechs. His excellent performance against them had pushed away the sword from his mind until now. A smile returned to his face, which he suppressed quickly as he enacted his newly formed plan.
As if seeking to escape, Jun mashed on the pedals and ignited his jump jets, creating once more a storm of sand around him. Ignoring the fire from the Shadow Cat and gambling that the sudden onslaught of powdery particles had given him a small window, he turned around as well as he could as the jump jets exhausted themselves. Immediately upon landing on the shifting side of the dune, he pounded his way forward to the sword, which lay a few hundred meters to the side.
He had barely began his mad dash for the sword when the Shadow Cat, like a harbinger of doom, came crashing out of the man-made sandstorm and firing with wild abandon, fully intent to bring him down quickly. Gone was the calculated marksmanship and movement its pilot had displayed, for Jun had no doubt that there was a pilot behind that 'mech, no AI program was that good. Even so, the laser bolts and the occasional Gauss slug did come unnervingly close at times, and the Clan 'mech managed to score a hit or two. He closed with the sword soon, but the medium mech behind him didn't let up, and came straight up his six at full speed, its aim gradually getting better.
Come on you bastard!
The range between the two shortened from six hundred to five, then four and closer as the Clan mech drew close into the short ranges. He hurriedly gauged the distance between him, the sword, and the enemy mech when he decided it was all or nothing. With the jump jet reserves charged up at more then half, he pumped the jets for all they were worth, once more stirring up a cloud of dust and sand behind him. Unlike before however, the Shadow Cat was undeterred and plunged straight into the storm.
Just as he expected.
It was truly a last act as he hit the heat overrides, and reached his mech's hand out for the sword. A feeling of exultation washed over him as the hand wrapped around the handle of the massive blade and his mech came to a stop, with barely any reserve left of the jump jet supply. The storm he'd stirred up this time though was far larger then the other times, when he'd only used them for quick turns and dashes. He ran back into the dust cloud, and flung his sword at the silhouette of the Shadow Cat when it appeared in front of him.
The sword and the J. Edgar attached to it flew straight at the 'mech. The sight of the sword spinning wasn't much of a laughing sight, but seeing the J. Edgar reminded Jun of a toy being tossed in a tantrum. He hadn't realized that the small hovercraft was still lodged in the sword until he flung it at the Shadow Cat. What happened next was pure luck though, and everyone who saw the record of the battle knew it.
The sword went wide, unbalanced as it was by the hovertank that it was imbedded in and only managed to nick the Shadow Cat's right leg by the barest of margins. The J. Edgar was another matter though. As if wielded like a hammer whose hammerhead was separated upon the swing, the vehicle became a short-lived projectile that soared straight at the Shadow Cat's cockpit. Backed up by the full strength of the triple-myomer system of the No-Dachi II, Jun knew how much heat it had to feed on, and because of the way it was thrown at the Shadow Cat, the 25-ton tank smashed into the side of the Clan mech's head with almost enough force to knock it backwards.
As it was, the mech tilted up and to its right at a very unnatural angle, clear that Jun had managed to damage its insides by twisting certain parts where they weren't meant to go, before stumbling backwards and toppling over. If that hadn't finished it off, he'd lost the fight with no chance at all by now, and his 'mech shut down under him, unable to sustain the high temperatures any longer. As the timer counted down before he could restart the mech, he looked warily at the Shadow Cat, which was twitching oddly, electric sparks jumping all along its face.
All of a sudden the image vanished from sight, and the simulator module shuddered, signaling the termination of the training simulation program.
The pod's cover popped open to the bright light of the simulator room, and the face of Vincent, a peculiar grin plastered on his face. Jun frowned slightly but it turned into a sheepish grin as he climbed out with Vincent's aid.
"Well, did I win?"
The roar of laughter that came from Vincent daunted the Koshimitsu quite a bit before the man began patting his shoulder. "Win! Yes!" His laughter continued, and the man was unable to stop, much to Jun's disconcertment.
Kaukatsu shook his head at the former bondsman, and put a hand on Jun's shoulder, a smile on his face that showed a deal of mirth, though it was far more well controlled then Vincent's own.
"Can someone tell me what just happened here?" He asked the security chief.
Kau shrugged slightly, and gestured to another person in the room. At the consoles where an observer or controller of the simulations normally sat, it had been Vincent when Jun went in about an hour or so ago, now had another man at its seat.
Jun looked at Kau, who gave him a nod, and went up the short flight of stairs towards the man. As he approached this new member of the crew, it seemed, he looked him over. He wasn't very tall, perhaps a few inches shorter then Jun himself. A touch on the heavy side as well, but not enough to be called fat. He had hair that was just beginning to gray, and glasses. A tech probably, Jun guessed, or someone with a similar line of work.
He just managed to hear the man murmuring to himself and shaking his head, saying "Confound Han-Xin and his accursed concept of luck! " With those words Jun found his first guess correct, this man was definitely part of his father's old crew.
Jun cleared his throat and spoke to the man. "Ah, greetings to you, and welcome to Damocles Moon Base." He began to bow slightly to the older man when he shook his head and waved the formality off.
"None of that, I've no use for all that decorum. I had enough with Han-Xin, the universe forbid that his son torment me with unnecessary words." The old man immediately cut him off, then stretched out his hand instead. "I'm Cheng Falls, most pleased to finally meet the son of Han-Xin, though I sincerely regret the circumstances of our meeting."
"There is no need to apologize. Vengeance first, then we may dispense what words we wish." Jun replied, coldy on the last few words.
Cheng looked at Kau with pursed lips. "Yes, definitely Han-Xin's son. But enough of that, I assume you are wondering what I have to offer your cause yes?"
"The thought did cross my mind, my purpose right now is definitely a rather dangerous course of action." Jun shrugged almost off-handedly, but his curiosity was piqued a bit.
"I shall get to that in a moment, but first, I believe my dear colleague here has something to speak to you of." Cheng nodded at someone behind Jun. The young man turned to look, and found the grim-faced Kaiden looking at him.
"You were lucky, young one. I would have found a simple defeat by your hands acceptable, but how you won was simply…" He closed his eyes and shuddered then continued. "Infuriating."
Exasperated, Jun turned to give all the rest around him looks. "Will someone please tell me what has happened here? I do not understand!"
Cheng brought up the image of the last moments between Jun and Kaiden's fight to the largest available holo screen. "As you can see here, you have Kaiden's mech downed but fully armed still by your blow and the impact of the J. Edgar, while you're here shut down and sorely devastated with nothing left but your sword as a weapon. And yet you won." Cheng ran through the quick clip, then tapped a button. "I wondered why the computer system had declared you so, since Kaiden was by all rights fully capable of finishing you off given a bit of time which he would have had since your mech had shut down. Checking Kaiden's mech I found the reason for your lucky victory."
Cheng seemed to grimace at the use of the word luck.
"And?" Jun asked, somewhat impatiently, wanting to find out the means of his triumph.
"Well if you look here, besides the external damage, the only other damage the Shadow Cat suffered is here in the interior of Kaiden's mech, where you can just make out that the neurohelmet system Kaiden was using had suffered minor damage in the form of a few damaged or severed command lines. Unfortunately for him, those few lines were the exact lines that linked his neurohelmet to the 'mech's command and control systems. So, especially since the blow had managed to knock the Shadow Cat down and facing the sky, and with the inability to move his 'mech through any means, the simulator system declared you the winner." Cheng finished with out any fanfare, simply dictating the facts as presented to him.
"You're joking right?"
And for Jun's personal Battlemech!
Battlemech Stats:
Type/Model: No-Dachi II ND2-1C
Tech: Mixed (Clan Chassis) / 3132
Config: Biped Battlemech
Rules: Level 3
Mass: 75 tons
Chassis: Endo Steel
Power Plant: 305 Fusion XL
Cruising Speed: 54 km/h
Running Speed: 86.4 km/h ~ 97.2 km/h
Jump Jets: none
Jump Capacity: none
Armor Type: Ferro-Fibrous
Armament:
1 Sea Fox ER-PPC
1 DWU ER Small Laser
1 Sea Fox LRM-10 w/ Artemis IV FCS
3 DWU Medium Pulse Lasers
1 DWU "Ryuu" Battlemech Sword
1 Sea Fox Angel ECM Suite
Manufacturer: Dynasty Weapons Unlimited
Location: Terra
Communications Systems: unknown
Targeting and Tracking Systems: unknown
Type/Model: No-Dachi II ND2-1C
Mass: 75 tons
Equipment: Crits Mass
Int. Structure: 114 Pts. Endo Steel 7 3.75 Tons
(1 RA, 1 RT/LT, 1 CT, 1 RL/LL, 1H)
Engine: 305 Fusion XL 10 19.25 Tons
Walking MP: 5
Running MP: 8 (9)
Jumping MP: None
Heat Sinks: 18 Double (36) 6 3.00 Tons
Gyro: 4 4.00 Tons
Cockpit/Life Support: 5 3.00 Tons
Actuators: 15 0.00 Tons
LA: Sh+UA+LA RA: Sh+UA+LA+H
LL: H+UL+LL+F RL: H+UL+LL+F
Armor: 231 Points Ferro-Fibrous 7 12.03 Tons
(Armor Crit Loc: 1 LA, 2 LT, 3 RT, 1 CT)
Internal Structure Armor Value
Head: 3 9
Center Torso: 23 34
Center Torso (Rear): - 12
L/R Torso: 16 22
L/R Torso (Rear): - 10
L/R Arm 12 24
L/R Leg 16 32
Weapons and Equipment Location Heat Ammo Crits Mass
1 ER PPC LA 15 - 2 6.00
2 Medium Pulse Lasers LA 8 - 2 4.00
1 Medium Pulse Laser RT 4 - 1 2.00
1 LRM-10 LT 4 36 4 5.50
(Ammo Loc: 3 LT)
1 ER Small Laser RT 2 - 1 0.50
1 Sword RA - - 5 4.00
1 Angel ECM Suite RT - - 2 1.50
1 Artemis IV FCS LT - - 1 1.00
1 Triple Strength Myomer LA/RA & LL/RL - - 6 0.00
TOTALS: 23 24.5
Crits & Tons Left: 0 0.00
Calculated Factors:
Total Cost: 21,946,488 C-Bills
Battle Value: 2,436 BV
Defensive BV:
Base BV: 765.25
Total BV: 994.825
Offensive BV:
Base BV: 960.80
Total BV: 1441.20