CHAPTER 3

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Buckminster, Buckminster Prefecture,
Benjamin Military District,
Draconis Combine,
September 16, 3072

As a graduate of several boot camps, Noloty was familiar with the life of a grunt soldier. Physical training was not a problem. Half of the new recruits quitted because of the harsh physical trainings they had to go through, but Noloty ground along. She was neither the strongest nor the fastest in the bunch, but she could keep up with everything.

Basic Combat Training was where she excelled at. She already knew firearms. Within a few weeks of firearms training, she jumped to advanced level. The same thing with hand-to-hand combat. Living alone in war-torn streets taught her to defend herself, so she needed only a few demonstrations of her martial art skills to move up to advanced level.

Battlemech skills, that was new to her. She had never been exposed to battlemechs before. She had to crawl her way up from basic battlemech knowledge, which she barely passed, to basic battlemech gunnery and piloting, which took the better half of her day, to basic battlemech tactical maneuvering, which she had no idea how to pass.

"Most of you morons only want to shoot big-bored guns out of a battlemech," the cranky instructor explained some basic strategies of battlemech warfare. "Well guess what? A battlemech has legs, just like you ignorant fools. It can move. It can run. Some runs faster than the fastest combat vehicles available. The combination of movement and shooting is what makes a battlemech the ultimate weapon in the battlefield. Maneuver is as important as shooting. If you use a battlemech as a damn turret, then it is only as good as a damn turret.

"The most basic, idiotic maneuver you can do is this: run toward the enemy then throw everything you've got in your inventory. Get into the striking zone of your big weapon as fast as you can and let the armor blunted the return fire of the enemy. I call this Yo' Momma maneuver, because your momma can do this better than you."

Light mirth reverberated throughout the hall. Noloty flashed a smile but she recorded everything the instructor said.

"My momma is a renowned mechwarrior," one of the bullies that had been harassing Noloty chimed from the back of the class, "serving the 13th Legion of Vega under…"

"I don't give a shit about your momma!" the instructor howled, turning the class completely silent. "I don't care what pedigree you came from! You pull off this shit, you're dead meat! And make no mistake: we can always find another idiot whose momma serves in a DCMS unit, but battlemechs are expensive! We don't have battlemechs to throw around!"

Ah, Army Brat, Noloty noted. No wonder they act like they own this place.

"If you wanna win a battle, you have to take advantage of the battlemechs's mobility," the instructor continued. "You have to attack from an oblique angle. In case you numbnuts haven't notice: a battlemech can also torso twist, like a turret of a tank. It also has arms for larger firing arc. So here's the most basic battlemech maneuver without looking like a noob playing video games: twist sideways and circle the enemy. Put him in the center and make him pivot. Now which one of you imbeciles know why we are moving in one direction and shoot at another direction? Isn't that a recipe for missing your shot? Anybody?"

Nobody dared to speak up.

"What do you have in your skull? Water? Stupid sonsofbitches!" the instructor barked. "If you're moving, you're a hard target to shoot! You are giving your ass a break! Now, there is a good chance the sorry bastard you're shooting at knows this maneuver as well, so he'll pull off the same shit to burn you down. The two of you will just circle and shoot at each other. I call this 'The Circle of Death'. How do you get out of this? Anybody?…"


The battlemech classes were mentally drawn and exhausting. Noloty needed some relief. There were 15 minutes break before hand-to-hand combat training, and while the rest of the new recruits went for snack, Noloty went straight to the training ground. She found herself an idle muk jong and started hammering at it. She treated it like a heavy bag. The sound of her knuckles and boots crashing onto the wooden dummy attracted cadets and officers alike. But Noloty didn't care. She kept pounding the muk jong with such a force the wooden arms started to peel.

Unfortunately the bullies picked the right time to ruin her day.

"This dummy's ours," the dark-haired hellion spat. Her long hair was braided in a single ponytail, pronouncing her readiness to battle. The other cadets moved to box Noloty, chuckling and snarling like a pack of wolves rounding up their prey.

Noloty had enough of their stunts. She stopped punching the dummy and went straight at the dark-haired hellion. "I'm here first. Find another dummy or wait until I'm finished."

The hellion lunged at Noloty, striking her shoulder with her palm. "You think you're tough, Sissy? You wouldn't be here if your daddy wasn't the hobo for the Black Dragon Society!"

Noloty was tired, angry, and in desperate need to vent. The mentioning of her father started the flame inside her. The hellion raised her hand to strike Noloty again but this time Noloty caught it with her right hand. She cocked her left then launched a vicious cross right at the hellion's bridge. The hellion, expecting nothing as violent, tumbled like a log. Noloty's punch tore a bad gash on her bridge. She groaned and twitched on the ground, covering her face with her palms.

Noloty knew she would get mobbed by the rest of the bullies, so she turned around and fired a hook at the nearest person. But he was ready. He blocked her blow and twisted her arm behind her back. Noloty grimaced as the pressure on her rotator cuff forced her knees to buckle. She clawed at the guy but the girl with green hair band caught her other arm, then twisted backward. Defenseless, Noloty made a desperate attempt to kick the girl's shin, but the bald cadet grabbed her neck and sank his fingers on her throat. Noloty gagged, and watched the bald cadet winding up his arm behind his ears...

"Hey!" a thundering voice stopped the bald cadet from launching his assault. Enrique stood a few feet away with half a dozen mechwarriors, a couple of them were still wearing coolant vests. "One against four, and you call yourselves warriors?"

The bald cadet shot a curt grin at Enrique, then told the other two to let Noloty go. As the two bullies tended to the bloodied hellion, the bald cadet stripped his shirt, boasting a full pack of muscles. He stretched his arms and legs while waiting for Noloty to regain her senses.

Noloty rubbed her neck and coughed. She looked at Enrique, not knowing whether to thank him or to slap him for interfering with her business. But Enrique smiled and nodded meaningfully. Noloty got on her feet and took off her red vest. She took a fighting stance, inching toward the bald cadet like a snake preying on an unsuspecting mouse. She kept her right fist under her chin while carrying her left arm low.

The bald cadet drew first blood. He lunged and front-kicked Noloty in the stomach. But Noloty sidestepped the attack, and as the bald cadet flashed in front of her, she fired a shovel punch at his ribs. The bald cadet grunted and dropped to his knees, but quickly sprung back up to his fighting stanch. His eyes flared with rage, and his fingers clenched in tight fists.

He attacked again. His legs whizzed in the air, aiming for Noloty's head. But Noloty bobbed and weaved, waiting for an opening, until the bald cadet grew tired of jumping. She busted his lips with a short jab to the head, then buckled his knees with a hard uppercut to his solar plexus. The bald cadet backpedaled, gasping for breaths, pondering why someone so lithe could inflict so much pain.

By this time the fight had attracted spectators from every corners of the training camp. Instructors, mechwarriors, cadets, all congregated at the Basic Combat Training ground. Most girls took Noloty's side, while the boys were evenly divided. The instructors decided to let the fight continue as they were eager to find out which cadet had the heart to finish strong.

Noloty took the initiative. She threw jabs to the shoulder, then lunged and slammed home a backfist to the temple. The bald cadet staggered. Noloty followed up with a short kick to the ankle. The bald cadet groaned as he dropped to his knees.

But Noloty was too eager to finish the fight quickly. Just as she cocked her arm for the finishing blow, the bald cadet threw a sucker punch to her stomach. Noloty got the wind knocked out of her. She traced her steps backward, gasping involuntarily, trying to clear her vision as the bald cadet dragged himself up. He watched Noloty struggling to breathe for a few moments, then launched a flying kick. Noloty crossed her arms to block the assault but his feet slipped past her defense. Her vision turned black for a split second, and when she regained consciousness, she was already lying on her back.

Pressing his advantage, the bald cadet pinned Noloty and pummeled her face with lightning-fast punches. Each strike exploded in brilliant colors, and after 3 or 4 of those blasts, Noloty went limp. Her arms dangled on her shoulders. Her head jerked violently with every hit, as if there were no bones to support it. The laughing taunts of the bald cadet sounded surreal and distant. She didn't know where she was anymore, as she floated back and forth between reality and a sparkling rainbow stretched far over the horizon.

That, until her fingers grazed the dirt.

Once again the bald cadet laughed and taunted Noloty while winding up his arm for the final blow. Mustering all energy remained, Noloty grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at his face. The bald cadet cried out while scrubbing his eyes, losing his grip on her. She grabbed his belt and pushed him off her, then rolled to the other direction. She stopped when she was certain she had put a good amount of gap between her and the bald cadet.

The spectators went wild, urging both parties to continue. Her head throbbing and her vision obscured by sweat and blood, Noloty heard Enrique screaming from the top of his lung. She dragged her body up, shaking unsteadily as she went, while trying to observe what the bald cadet was doing. He was already on his feet, still scrubbing his head while throwing a train of curses.

With his eyes still squinting, the bald cadet reinvigorated his offense, hoping to regain his dominance. But he could barely see her, and she was determined to make him pay. He lunged at her with a haymaker, but Noloty simply ducked and stretched her leg. The bald cadet tripped and slid on the ground. He struggled to get up, but Noloty defied her pain and dashed at him, burying her elbow into the back of his neck. The bald cadet went back down to the ground, and Noloty just crashed right on top of him, gasping for air.

The other bullies rushed to assist their friend, but Enrique saw it as an act to mug Noloty. The mechwarriors cut off the bullies and started throwing punches. The other cadets joined the fray, and soon the training ground turned into a large-scale battlefield with everybody punching everybody else.

The situation became under control when instructors threatened to court-martial everybody.

Enrique pulled Noloty up and slung her arms around his shoulder. "I didn't think you would last that long against that bruiser," he said as he coaxed the limp Noloty to her feet. "You put up a helluva fight."

"Did I beat him?" Noloty wheezed. Both of her eyes were swollen shut.

"You beat him up," Enrique chuckled. "Either you made him respect you, or pissed him off more."

"Let them throw another shot," Noloty forced herself to walk. "I'll be ready."

"Save it for tomorrow. Now you're going to the infirmary before your instructor throws you to the brig for starting a chaos."