CHAPTER 6

Review Corner

Ulquiorra9000: To be honest this part of story is inspired by the movie 'Lords of Discipline', which itself based on the author's experience at The Military College of South Carolina. Believe it or not, some parts of this story are real.

I need to get back to the Chen's story.

The Colonel: You'll see her again in a much "better" circumstances, I promise :)


Buckminster, Buckminster Prefecture,
Benjamin Military District,
Draconis Combine,
December 11, 3072

"You have been learning to operate battlemech weapons for a month," the instructor briefed Noloty and another cadet on the mounting platform. "You show steady progress on how to handle each weapon in any given situation. But if you think you can call yourselves mechwarriors, you are pathetically mistaken. What you have been shooting do not shoot back. And that makes you only half mechwarriors."

Noloty stole a glance at her adversary, the Black Dragon girl with the silver eyes. She was stoic; jaws clenched and eyes glued to the instructor. Noloty hadn't interacted with her much. She hardly said anything, and her presence was usually overshadowed by the rambunctiousness of the other bullies. The weaker you are the louder you bark. It was the quiet one that was usually the most dangerous.

"Today you two are going against each other," the instructor looked back and forth at Noloty and the other cadet. "Shooting each other in the simulator pod is only for sissies because you do not feel the shock of being slapped with megawatts of lasers. The only way to get real combat experience is through live-fire exercise. The mechs have been conditioned to shut down when the damage reaches critical, so the risk of fatality is minimal. However, head shot is still lethal, and I swear the first cadet who headshot the other will be dealt harshly. Save the headshot for real combat. Any other body part is fair game. Any questions?"

"No Sir," Noloty and the other cadet replied in unison.

"Go to your mechs. Wasp starts from Nav point Alpha, Thorn starts from Nav point Beta. Match starts on my mark. Last cadet standing wins. Good luck."

Noloty gave the other cadet a courtesy nod then turned toward the battlemechs, parked side by side. She contemplated which mech to choose. They were both fast, and lightly armored, which was expected from a 20-ton retrotech mech. The Wasp was more agile due to jump jets. The Thorn had longer reach and more weapons. Noloty picked the Thorn but the silver-eyed cadet went for it first. Noloty settled for the Wasp.

Going through the same starting sequence, Noloty checked the overhead map. The main battleground was a savannah with moderate hills which she could use as covers. There were some obstacles at the center, perhaps a simulation of a small city, used as urban environment if she chose to do it. She devised a plan to exhaust the Thorn's dangerous LRM at the first opportunity.

At the sign, she sprinted to Nav point Alpha and set active radar. She wanted to spot the Thorn as early as possible. As she hit Nav point Alpha, she contacted the instructor, telling him she was in position and ready to go. She heard the other cadet stated the same, so she moved her mech to the center, hoping she could get to the obstacles before she came into the Thorn's range.

The Thorn quickly appeared on her radar and at 600 meters it hurled its missiles, just as she expected. She veered left, letting the missiles to arc toward her, then blasted her jets to reverse direction. The missiles went harmlessly past her and exploded on the grass, blowing chunks of soil every which way.

Keep 'em coming, Noloty whispered to herself as the gap between the two mechs shrank to 450 meters. She reigned in her Wasp, presenting herself as an easy target for the Thorn's deadly LRM. Her proximity alarm screamed as the second wave of missiles leapt from the Thorn's right 'arm'. Noloty slammed home the throttle and her jets to quickly hide behind the obstacles on the center. The missiles busted concrete structures in orange fireballs. Yet Noloty was safe unscathed behind a concrete pillar.

Missing twice in a row made the Thorn pilot anxious. It dashed at the Wasp and fired its medium lasers at the first opportunity. Noloty sidestepped the assault. With all 3 weapons recycling, the Thorn suddenly became a 20-ton sitting duck. Noloty raised the Wasp's right arm and mashed her trigger, eager to see the familiar orange glow at the end of the laser strand.

Nothing happened.

"What the…?" Noloty thumbed the trigger in quick succession. Her console showed all system nominal, but her laser cannon was not firing. She switched to her missiles and abused the trigger. Nothing came out of the launcher. Yet the console profoundly announced that everything was working as it should be.

"Command Center, my system malfunctions," Noloty informed the base. "Stop the match!"

The Thorn took advantage of a moment of relapse on Noloty's end and fired an unguided LRM salvo at 250 meters. Noloty had only a split second to dodge it. She ducked, instinctively, missing 3 missiles. The other two slammed onto the Wasp's shoulder. The light mech shuddered, and Noloty had to pull her joystick hard to keep the Wasp from buckling.

"Command Center, I am experiencing trouble with my mech!" Noloty desperately called the base. "I am unable to respond to threats! Stop the match!" She waved the Wasp's arms in front of the cockpit, trying to stop the Thorn from beating her senseless. But either the other cadet didn't understand what she was trying to say, or deliberately ignored her. Two laser strands leapt from the tubes, which the Wasp took flush on the chest. The loss of mass staggered the Wasp, and Noloty brought her mech to backpedal, until its back was flat against a concrete structure.

Noloty tried everything she could think of: pressing the trigger with force, banging on the console, screaming on the comlink, but nothing worked. The training center seemed oblivious to what was happening, and the Thorn kept hammering the Wasp without relent, taking advantage of the Wasp's vulnerability. A hard-lock missile salvo gutted the Wasp, splitting the torso armor from where the head joined the shoulder down to the crotch. Smoke wafted from the opening.

Noloty didn't know how critical her Wasp was; her console had gone dark. She only knew that one more hit on her split torso would destroy the mech. By mission parameters, her mech should've shut down, the other cadet should've stopped shooting, and the match should've been over by now. The fact that none of them happened made her realize that there might be more to her situation than just system malfunction. For good measure she pulled the ejection lever, and to her chagrin, it didn't do anything.

Now everything started to make sense. Back at the platform the silver-eyed girl rushed to the Thorn. She knew the Wasp was rigged. She ignored Noloty's hand signal to stop fighting. Command Center didn't respond to Noloty's distress call. Somebody obviously wanted to see Noloty get hurt, if not killed, for whatever reason she would never understand. She was alone, and things would not stop until she was dead or unable to continue.

Well, if this was her last show as an aspiring mechwarrior, she wouldn't go down quietly.

Reassessing her assets, she took cover behind a large concrete obstacle. The Thorn eagerly pursued her, as expected. She bent down and grabbed a large concrete block, sheared off from the concrete obstacle by the Thorn's wild missiles. As the Thorn cleared the edge, Noloty hurled the concrete block as hard as she could. It struck the Thorn right at the bridge. The Thorn swayed as if it lost control of its myomers. Noloty pressed her advantage. She fired all jets, lunged at the still groggy Thorn and rammed her Wasp onto it. The sheer momentum threw both mechs onto a concrete obstacle. They tumbled down, with the Wasp on top of the Thorn.

It took a while for Noloty to recover from a massive headache following the crash, but when she got a hold of herself, she saw that the Thorn was writhing and straining to get up, but the Wasp was pinning it down. She pulled her Wasp up then pounded the Thorn's right 'arm' with her free hand. The awkwardly-mounted missile launcher twisted and screamed under Noloty's assault. The joint gave in, and the launcher breached in a loud sickening screech.

Losing its main weapon, the Thorn resorted to the remaining laser-laden arm. It yanked its left arm free from underneath the Wasp then aimed the laser at the Wasp's head in a blatant disregard of the instructor's order. But Noloty swatted the arm and punched the elbow. Sparks burst upon impact. Noloty hammered the elbow one more time, putting as much Wasp's body weight on her punch as possible, then twisted the arm backward. The Thorn's lower arm was separated from the rest of the body.

"How does it feel to get your weapons taken away from you, Bitch?!" Noloty grabbed the breached arm of the Thorn like a cudgel. "Now exit your mech or I'll shove this up your ass!"

The Thorn didn't respond, and Noloty soon found out why. Three more battlemechs closed in on her, aiming all weapons at her Wasp's smoking torso. Of course, the rest of the bullies had to rescue their friend from the shame that she couldn't even finish a cadet in a rigged match. Noloty tried to find a way to escape but two of the new mechs were Locusts. There was no way she could outrun two Locusts in a damaged Wasp.

"How about you exit your mech, Bitch?!" one of them croaked.

"You attacked her head," another one added. "I want to see your face when they whip you for that!"

"If they review my battleROM they will understand why I'm doing what I'm doing," Noloty retorted.

"There will be no reviewing," the third one, a girl, spoke. It was the brown-haired hellion. "You broke the rule of engagement. You're out of this place, but not before they punish you. And I'll be there to watch you suffer, Bitch!"

Noloty opened her mouth but a blue particle streak flashed past her cockpit. Her radar was damaged so she couldn't see how many battlemechs came into the field. She twisted right to see two Kuritan iconic mechs, a Jenner and a Panther, coming in hot to join the party.

"Cadets! Shut down and exit your mechs! Now!" Enrique's voice boomed through the external speaker.

"We are protecting our friend!" the bald cadet with blue tattoo on his head moved his Stinger to challenge the Panther. "That bitch in the Wasp is who you want. She attacked the cockpit of the Thorn in a flagrant attempt to harm our friend…"

The Panther levelled its PPC barrel on the Stinger's head, prompting the cadet to stop talking. "This is Gunsho Enrique, 2nd Sword of Light Training Cadre Division. I am the ranking officer in the field, and I have the authority to terminate disobeying cadets with extreme prejudice. Shut down and exit your mech. I will not ask again!"

Noloty didn't know if Enrique came to rescue her or somebody finally noticed the crooked match, but it was the least of her concern. She shut down her mech and climbed out the cockpit with hands in the air. The silver-eyed cadet in the Thorn followed suit. The brown-haired hellion and her shaggy companion came out next. The bald cadet exited last, right before a flatbed truck arrived to collect the cadets.