Silesias, Solaris IV
"Hurry it up will ya? I haven't got all day!" Alex yelled up at the band of technicians who were lazily eating their lunch atop his Fanfir.
"Were on Wunch Brake! Tafe iff eafy!" A technician yelled back down to him with his mouth full.
Alex gritted his teeth, "Damn lazy buggers." He muttered to himself.
He wandered towards Kyle's spot and found him in the same situation, except he was holding a tech by the collar.
"Get your god damned Asses in gear! I got a match today and I don't want ANYTHING missed, malfunction, or destroyed. Do I make myself clear?" He was yelling in a drill sergeant-like tone. The tech gulped audibly and nodded. Kyle threw him off and the poor mechanic scuttled away.
"Temper, temper," Alex mused. "If you treat them like that, they won't want to work for us anymore."
Kyle stared morosely at his prized Masakari, "Well, you understand how I feel. Today's our big day, I don't want to go in with anything wrong."
"Yeh, but unfortunately the techs could care less about your situation, you have to understand that." He said sympathetically.
"Oh and I have good news, they've approved us for being a team."
Kyle smiled, "Excellent. Well that's a relief, I don't want to be out there fighting my best bud." He said punching Alex's shoulder lightly.
Alex returned the punch and returned to getting the techs off their lazy posteriors and on to maintaining his Fanfir.
Steiner Coliseum,
Silesias, Solaris IV
Kyle walked his mech into the enormous coliseum. He read once that it was roughly 900 meters long and 500 meters wide. He had seen the matches in the stands and behind the protective shielding, but he had never seen it from the pilot's point of view. He strained his eyes to see to the other side of the arena. He could make out the towering figure of an Atlas and a Daishi striding in smoothly. On his right there was a new Mad Cat MKII, a Templar, and a Highlander. To the left side of the stadium he saw a Zeus, and a Victor. All of them were notorious assault mechs, and all with notorious veteran pilots.
He turned quickly and looked behind him as the doors to the exits slammed shut. Then he looked once more to his adversaries and gulped loudly.
Maybe I should have started in the light division, instead of jumping the gun. He slapped himself mentally for his arrogance and impatience. Then he slapped himself again for having second thoughts.
No, he thought. It's too late to go back now.
He heard the announcer come on the open frequency and speakers around the stadium. "Welcome Solaris fans! This is Duncan Fisher live from the Coliseum. Oh ho, that's right people it's Coliseum time! The only place where fans can actually watch the games live and from the real spectator's view!"
"We have many great players out there today, and some that are stepping into the Assault division for the first time. Well, lets all wish them luck. I can see the timer, let the Games Begin!"
Kyle heard the loud horn, signaling the start of the match. He slammed his Masakari's speed to full throttle, and began sweeping the area immediately for a target.
He decided on the Mad Cat Mk II, as it was already firing some weapons at him.
Kyle grinned momentarily. This is gonna be fun…he thought to himself.
Kyle had arranged his mech's weaponry very wisely, if not expensive. He had designed the load-out specifically for the Coliseum so that he had the advantage in every aspect.
The Masakari was armed with two Clan ER Large Lasers, and two Clan Medium Pulse Lasers, as well as two light gauss rifles so that he could reach his targets from anywhere in the stadium, and a LRM 5. The cost of his firepower had to be paid in armor. He had to strip at least a ton of armor off of each leg to fit the weight capacity. Nonetheless, he still had a lot of it to spare, and the firepower ensured that its weakness would not be stressed.
The Maddie fired two gauss slugs at him, and both passed wide of their target. The Masakari replied with a full spread of its lasers. Two ER Large Lasers struck the left leg of the Maddie and several darts of green energy from the medium pulse lasers struck marks all over the mech.
The Mad Cat II had recovered from the assault and replied with a full salvo of class 6 Streak SRM's. Kyle gritted his teeth and braced himself when the brutal return scored all over his mech. He grimaced as his damage indicators estimated about a half-ton loss in armor. Nothing serious, but he still had seven assault mechs to deal with.
The two began to circle each other. Kyle noticed the absence of jump jets on the Mad Cat II, probably made up for in armor and firepower.
He fired off a gauss slug, and smiled as it connected squarely with the enemy's center torso. The Maddie staggered back wards, and Kyle fired off another gauss slug and one of his large lasers. He didn't want to allow the Maddie a chance to fire back.
The laser passed high, but still hit the left 'ear' of the Mad Cat II, causing molten metal to trickle down the rack and plug up several missile tubes. The gauss slug connected with the Maddie's left arm and shattered upon impact, and the nickel iron shards tore deep into the armor of the arm and removed nearly all if it.
The Maddie recovered quickly from the assault and now fired off all its weapons, the pilot fueled by a desperate attempt at blowing Kyle away before he could inflict too much damage.
Kyle bounced around in his command couch as a Gauss slug connected with his right torso. He struggled to keep his Masakari on its feet and was overcome when a barrage of lasers and ten Streak SRM's exploded all over his mech. The massive assault chassis fell back and crashed to the ground with a sickening crunch.
When he came to his senses, Kyle swore that he could see stars revolving merrily around his head, and he swore again as he saw the Mad Cat II loom over him and aim on of its arms directly at his center torso.
In a lightning quick movement, Kyle brought the Masakari's arm up and fired away a gauss slug and his second ER large laser. The shots connected with the underside of the Maddie's center torso, and sent the nose pointing high in the air.
Kyle sensed his opportunity and fired another gauss slug at the Mad Cat II along with a spread of LRM's. The second slug threw off the Maddie's balance and it started hopping backwards, alternating feet. Kyle fired his last ER large laser and the Mad Cat went crumbling to the ground.
Kyle got his Masakari up quickly and started bombarding the fallen Mad Cat with his pulse lasers. The Maddie struggled to get to its feet as the emerald green darts scored tiny sizzling holes all over it. Despite its effort, Kyle could not let the Maddie do anymore damage to him, and he fired both of his large lasers at the gyro of the mech and scored his first kill in the Coliseum.
"Well fans, that is some top-quality mech action for you!" Duncan's voice boomed over the open frequency. "I hope you saw that Solaris fans, because you can't pay for entertainment like that. His fall, his recovery, and his startling victory, what a kill! Something tells me we'll be seeing more of that kid in the future."
Kyle beamed as he saw an ejection pod burst from the Mad Cat II and looked for another target. "One down, six to go." He said.
He ran his mech over to the opposite side of the stadium and locked on to the Highlander, the Templar, and the Atlas, who were all locked in a never-ending attrition. He checked his sensors and saw that all of them were nearing the critical reading, and that would be a chance to score some easy kills.
He locked on to the Atlas from 700 meters and fired both his gauss rifles to get its attention. One passed just wide of the Atlas's torso, while the other hit square in the center.
The Atlas doubled up; as if it had the wind knocked out of it, and actually put one arm in front of its chest to protect its exposed internals. The Highlander sought to finish the crippled giant but was thrown back by the Atlas's free fist. The Highlander staggered back and instead decided to pick on the assailant of the Atlas. However, the only things that he turned to see were two gauss slugs heading towards his chest.
The first shot connected squarely with the center torso of the Highlander and managed to blow through the armor but failed to harm the internals. The second, however streaked right through the chassis and cored all of the fragile systems held there…including the core.
The kill horn sounded. Kyle smiled again as he saw an ejection pod burst from the head and the rest of the destroyed chassis explode in a blinding white light.
The Templar had been trying to take advantage of the situation by firing a LBX shot gun at the stationary Atlas. However, the Atlas's thick armor and supreme weaponry would not allow so.
The Atlas, though on one knee, had kept the Templar at bay by firing its eye-mounted pulse laser. Or in this case…X-pulse laser. Kyle grinded his teeth as the odds got worse for him. He decided he needed to take down the Atlas while it was still a sitting duck, and fired his ER lasers in the Atlas's direction.
One laser struck the ground near the behemoth's foot tossing dirt up dirt into the Atlas's face, and the other scored the upright leg, sending glowing orange rivulets running down its shin.
The Atlas looked up from the sudden attack and immediately fired two PPC's in Kyle's direction. He grimaced as the two artificial lightning bolts splashed on either side of his cockpit. He's good. Kyle thought as he shook the sweat off his face.
The kill horn sounded as soon as the Atlas brought down the Templar with a final blow from its gauss rifle, and it paused for a moment before standing back up.
It re-covered its chest with its arm to protect its exposed innards, and then charged Kyle's Masakari with the remarkable semblance of a freight train.
The Atlas has ever been the symbol of superiority and victory. For a century, the very name of the Atlas struck fear into even the most seasoned and veteran pilots. There was a saying that went: Say the name Atlas and your listeners will shudder in fear and think of the (almost) grinning death head of the mech. Say the name Atlas again and listen to them tell you how lucky you were to survive your encounter with it.
Kyle had been up against an Atlas before and he was the one to score the kill. However, blinded by his arrogance, Kyle had yet to learn just how deadly the Atlas was in the hands of an elite.
He cursed as four streams of X-pulse lasers began to strike his mech with ferocity. He gave a single glance to his damage indicators, and a bead of sweat ran down the side of his face as he saw his readings go from orange to red.
He replied to the Atlas with both his Gauss Rifles. The slugs reeled towards the Atlas with desperate speed. The slugs slammed perfectly into the Atlas, Kyle saw whole chunks of armor flying off every-which way, yet the shot that would have counted the most was blocked by its protective arm.
In the background he heard two more horns blow.
Duncan's voice roared over the open frequency. "Holy Cow! Just a tip to all you rookie pilots out there, you don't want to be in a melee range when your enemy's reactor goes critical. Oh well, that's two birds down without a stone thrown. Better luck next time."
He looked at his sensor readings, they told him that the Atlas was very near death as well, and he just needed to blow off that goddamned arm.
Suddenly the Atlas slowed its pace and all of its movements. Kyle knew that the Atlas was lining up for a final shot, and from the way the Atlas was taking its time it was probably aiming its Gauss Rifle.
Immediately Kyle veered to the right, and true to his instincts, a gauss slug pierced the space that he had just evacuated. He turned his torso back to the Atlas, and let loose his full array of lasers.
The two emerald beams struck the protective arm of the Atlas with utmost precision. And in a mix of melted armor, explosions, and light, the arm was finally blown off. The two pulse lasers followed suit, and little by little they wore away the protective engine shielding.
The kill horn blared and Kyle saw an ejection pod burst from the mighty Atlas. Kyle did not smile this time. Even though he had just secured himself second place, he couldn't let his pride and ego show now. He had won on pure luck, and he knew it.
He let out a heavy sigh and let his heat levels fall. His damage indicators told him almost all of the armor on his upper torso was gone, and several heat sinks had been damaged.
He enjoyed the brief moment of peace, but of course, it was very brief. For as soon as Kyle looked up from his displays, several AC rounds tore into his right arm and completely destroyed it.
Kyle cursed and looked at his final adversary, a Daishi was striding towards him with its guns blazing. He gave it a dumb blank, exasperated look before convincing his limbs to move. He slammed his throttle to full, and tried to circle the slow moving Daishi, re-routing the ammunition from the gauss rifle in that arm to the other.
The Daishi unleashed a massive barrage of pulse lasers on Kyle's badly damaged Masakari, which began dripping melted armor off of its limbs. Yet there wasn't very much armor left to melt.
Kyle's displays now told him of an imminent engine meltdown, red lights and sirens confirmed this and Kyle knew that was his cue. He looked up and sighed yet again.
"Well…that was fun." He said and pulled the ejection handle.
Ok that was still really short…BAH! T-T. Ah well, I made this story because I need practice with mech action. Sorry if I wasn't too detailed, but I've learned that when I try to color things up...They get really cheesy. Maybe it's not the same for mech action but I'm still a writer in progress. Oh and in case you haven't guessed already, this story revolves entirely around Mech Warrior 4: Mercenaries.
Shank
Lead…Tastes great, less filling.