Silesias City
Solaris VII
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A group of inebriated men happily cheered and clapped in a corner of the bar. They slammed their mugs and then took long pulls, as was the fashion. In truth, more were there for the free alcohol rather than the real occasion, but they still made a happy and functioning crowd.
The genuine members of the "celebration" were packed tightly into a corner. There were the two stars sitting uncomfortably in the center, obviously sober compared to their comrades; a small group of Comstar reporters as well as a familiar face on Solaris, and finally, there was a man of fifty or so sitting passively to the side of the group.
"Well anyway, I was just saying that I was amazed with both of your performances. It's extremely rare that any fresh Solaris jock would just come in out of nowhere and rank," Duncan said, "In fact, the last person to do that was the venerable Specter…"
"Well, we were mercs for awhile before this," Alex tried to explain, "I was a mech racer even before that and Kyle's an expert at handling all the heavy artillery."
Duncan smiled, "What I'd like to know is where the hell you got all of your skills."
Kyle pointed to Chuck sitting in the corner, "That's our old instructor, Sgt. Chuck Masters. We owe everything we know to him."
Duncan turned his attention to the gruff old man and almost instantly noticed the Dragoon's insignia on his jacket.
"You're a Wolf? What are you doing way out here in Steiner space?" Duncan asked raising an eyebrow.
Chuck snorted, "I'm keeping these two out of trouble. They may be two favorite students of mine, and two of the best, but they've always barely gotten alive out of everything."
"Like…"
"Use your imagination," Chuck smirked, "Think of something real bad…they've lived through it. I guarantee you that. Let's see now…orbital bombardment, nuclear warheads, pirate attacks, the worst of some Lostech…"
"Chuck…" Alex stopped him from rambling on now that the Comstar reporters were beginning to look a little furtive.
"Huh? Oh right, right. Anyway, I put everything I knew into these boys and their squad members, and it's certainly paid off it looks like."
"Certainly does," Duncan said "I'll be honest boys; I don't normally do this. I didn't do this with pros like Alex Haight, Peter Sargas, or even Specter."
"Do what exactly?" Alex asked.
"I never came and greeted rookies for their first rank-ins. I might have come after they were favorites or had advanced a circuit…"
"And so what's inspired you to put a black mark on that record?" Kyle asked, his arrogance starting to swell.
"I just have to say that was some of the best mech action I've ever seen in my life; and if you know me, you'll know that I've seen a lot of action. Kyle, the way you battered your way through those assaults and met Sargas' skill with your own; well, that's amazing in itself, not to mention the maneuvers you pulled despite the worst circumstances."
Kyle flushed and beamed, Chuck had to swivel around to hide his laughter. Watching Kyle's ego inflate was entertainment he couldn't pay for.
"And Alex, I've heard that the way you piloted your mech will become pure reference material for racers, trainers, and even mech-action movies. Not to mention that clanner either! He's been notorious throughout the light circuit for sometime now," Duncan went on.
"Has he?" Alex asked indifferently.
"He sure is…but not the favorite of many I'm afraid. From what we know he's pretty much by himself out here, but he's been able to rank in every match he's entered so far."
Kyle and Alex's ensuing silence put the entire group through a moment of unease. At last though, one of the tipsy by-standers broke the silence by raising his pint.
"To the action soon to come!" He said.
Duncan, Kyle, Alex, and the rest jumped a little bit from the sudden outburst but all raised their mugs and drank to the two rookies fresh into the league.
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Later, after everything had quieted down and the party had thinned out, Kyle, Alex, and Chuck walked over to the bar to order one last drink. They each took a place on a stool and sat for a moment in silence, sipping nervously at their drinks.
At length, it was Alex who broke the silence.
"So, old chap, are you going to leave for real this time? Or are you going to stay because you're too worried about us?"
"Worried?" Chuck snorted, "Hah! I just was here to make sure you ranked in your first match! If my two best students failed at something as easy as the Solaris games then I'd be a laughing stock back on Outreach!"
Alex and Kyle felt their hearts plummet to the floor.
Chuck went on, "When you've survived every single ruthless weapon the universe has to throw at you, it builds you a reputation."
Kyle snorted, "Really? Then why haven't we ever seen our names in the Comstar headlines eh?"
Chuck looked at Kyle in an idiosyncratic way that both men knew only too well. It was his way of telling Kyle how much of an idiot he is.
"Has it ever occurred to you that when ever you survived, all evidence of your claims was erased as well? Think about it! Nuclear strikes…well that's not leaving much evidence to go back on is it? Orbital bombardment too, I doubt the MRBC would believe in the torched records from your totaled dropships. Let's see now, what else? Oh yes, that ambush from pirates around Tortuga! What the hell were you doing out there with a company of battle mechs anyway? Then there's Lostech! No one would ever believe that the Word of Blake would—"
Chuck stopped dead when he noticed that the bartender had stopped cleaning mugs and was eyeing him closely. Chuck shrank back and turned to his students.
"It's the beer…" He said pathetically.
After another short silence, Alex chimed in again.
"So…you're telling me that the only reason you came was to make sure your reputation didn't crumble?"
"Hell no! Of all the brightest and quick thinking students I have, you two are by far my favorites! Every thing we've been through—well, you're like the sons I never had! I couldn't just let you go down on your first try!"
Alex and Kyle stared at their mentor with thoughtful eyes.
"So you really were worried about us then?" Alex asked quietly.
Chuck's small eyes glazed over and his gruff voice faltered, "Hell yes…"
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"So then, you're really going back to Outreach?" Kyle asked after awhile.
"Yeah…the next term will be starting soon, and I can't keep my students waiting. Plus, I have a family to take care of too you know. I have a loving wife, and two daughters…one of which is pregnant," Chuck said.
Kyle fell out of his chair.
"Beer…! It's just the beer!" Kyle said scrambling back onto the stool.
Chuck resisted the urge to punch the living daylights out of his student and instead took a long pull from his glass.
Alex paid the bartender for the drinks then all three men stood up and made their way towards the door. As they stood out on the sidewalk of Arnulf Street, they found themselves in a familiar situation.
"Well then I guess this is goodbye…until you boys come crying back to my class room," Chuck smirked waving for a taxi.
"Oh we'll come back sometime, but we won't be crying," Kyle said somewhat defensively. "Oh…and say hi to Sarah for me."
Chuck snorted with the slightest sign of defiance but shrugged it off and resigned to friendliness. "Sure…I'll tell her you miss her," Chuck said with a final stab.
It seemed to Alex that Kyle suddenly lost his footing, but when he blinked Kyle was just kicking the heel of his boot, muttering something about a puddle. Alex and Chuck exchanged glances and suppressed the urge to laugh…indeed there was a puddle, but it was from Kyle's burst ego bubble.
A taxi finally pulled up and Chuck casually climbed in, shut the door and rolled down the window. The two warriors stared long and hard at their teacher. Chuck smiled and nodded.
"Kick some ass you two," he said as the taxi sped off.
There was no need to say goodbye.
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With Chuck gone, the two men started towards the Royal Inn.
"So…are you actually going to come back with me this time? Or will you insist on getting lost again?" Kyle asked.
"Nah…I'll meet up with you later. I have to walk off all this alcohol anyhow."
Kyle blew an annoyed sigh but gave up, "I've told you before! Exercise won't work off alcohol, but fine! Have it your way. I don't see why though…I just better not have to report you missing got it?"
The two men came to an intersection and split up. Alex called out to his partner as he crossed the street.
"I got it, I got it. I'll be back before you know it!"
Kyle waited until Alex was out of earshot then began muttering to himself.
"Back before I know it eh? In what century?! 100 C-Bills says he'll find himself in the Montenegro sector by tomorrow morning!"
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Montenegro Sector, Silesias City, Solaris VII02:00:00 Hours
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Damn, Alex thought. Where the hell am I now?
It was true—Alex had no sense of direction whatsoever. Without the compass and heading displays on his mech's HUD, he was always lost. However, he was an explorer by heart. He would always study the terrain of entire planetary regions when he was a merc, and read mech race routes like the Bible…but of course, on every map he was told the compass directions, and thus knew his way. By exploring he always thought he would know the area better, but he was sadly mistaken.
Alex looked frantically around him for a sign or a police car or something that could help him…but he found none. Defeated and thoroughly lost, he sat down to think.
He sat for a good fifteen minutes before a strangled cry caught his attention. He turned his head toward the direction of the cry and heard the definite sounds of a fight.
Immediately he stood up and started off in the direction of the brawl. He came across an alleyway where he thought he saw two figures beating another on the ground. He couldn't see their faces but he knew that the man on the ground needed help.
"Hey! Hey break it up!" He yelled. The two standing figures immediately stopped and looked at Alex for a second, then bolted down the alleyway.
Alex gritted his teeth, "You bloody cowards! Come back 'ere and I'll break your friggen' necks!"
The attackers, of course, didn't come back and Alex turned his attention to the man lying on the ground. The man groaned as Alex tried to shake him awake.
"You all right?" Alex asked. When he didn't get a response, he started fumbling around for his penlight so he could see how badly hurt the man was, and get a good look at his face.
The figure groaned and coughed again, trying to sit up. "Oh no," Alex said, "You just sit here and I'll go for some help—"
Alex was cut short by a punch in the face. Surprised, he stood, backed up to the opposite wall and raised his fists.
"What the devil—?"
The man had stood up as well and now threw another punch towards Alex, who pivoted to avoid it. Now with his back to the street, Alex backed all the way to the sidewalk for some relief from a street lamp.
With his fists at the ready, Alex watched a shadow step into the light. As soon as it's face was visible though, Alex dropped his hands and stared in awe at the man's face.
"Freebirth…" the clanner uttered.
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Ok sry about this one guys. I just needed to throw it out. I'm also really sorry about not getting this chapter up sooner. I've been working on a different fic that was sparked by a bunch of reviews. Um, about the mech action….not much here obviously. I'm gonna bring him in to the loop for the rest of the fic and introduce a whole new style of fighting soon enough (unless of course it was already there).
Sorry it took so long.
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Yeth: Yes! I'm a guy who loves to fill in the blanks…the in between stories if you will. And as for the typo, we all make them. It was just a little confusing lol. "
Duo: I believe the standard configuration for a Cougar is an ER Lg Laser, ER Med Laser, ER Sm Laser, and duel LRM 10 banks. What I had for Alex and the green turkey were more custom configs that I tried out in the game. They seemed to work pretty well, aside from the fact that Clan Equip was freaking expensive! Oh and don't worry about the Fafnir, it'll be back with a vengeance soon enough. ;)
batu2pahat: Yeah…something I noticed when I first started reading MW is that the boys at FASA and BT created an entire universe for us. I didn't want to start writing without knowing something…so I did some homework. Well heat levels yea…I'll fix that. Just remember though its hard to pay attention to it when your annihilating enemy mechs and you cant feel the heat yourself. As for all the clan mechs…I'll definitely have to pay attention to that too. As for Fanfir…well lets call that a typo until I fix it lol. I think I might have spelled Duncan's last name wrong too on several occasions but I'm too lazy to go back and check lol.Jonny: Well...that's a tough one lol. Well……….I am a clan fan so I'm going to say a Mad Cat or a Hellhound or an Ares loaded with AC's, but the IS Templar is pretty good too.
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Thnx all! Read and Review!