CHAPTER 8
Review Corner
The Colonel: I agree, but sometimes we made the wrong choice. Noloty was naïve when she chose this unit. Now she had seen the real face of the 2nd Sword of Light, she could take another path. Let's see what lies in the future for her *wink*wink*
mobmal: I'm not rushing, I just wish I could write as fast as others. I know the pain of waiting for the next installment, so I try not to put readers in that situation, but sometimes I can't help it :(
Ulquiorra9000: Mick Jager, Keith Richards, and Steven Tyler are ugly as hell, but I'm sure thousands of people had their posters on their walls =D
That 'put [insert a name here] poster on my wall' line was a reference to the movie "Rockstar". I use it as a recurring gag in several occasions.
Buckminster, Buckminster Prefecture,
Benjamin Military District,
Draconis Combine,
January 5, 3073
Noloty was more than ready for her rescheduled 1-on-1, but when she learnt that she would fight Kayoko, her heart deflated. It was not she was afraid Kayoko would beat her. No, she was afraid of Kayoko's safety. After everything that had happened to her, she had a feeling that their matchup was intentional. Somehow she had a feeling that whoever matched them up knew that they were best friends, and took advantage of it.
"We are grounding all light battlemechs for inspections," the instructor briefed the two girls as the platform lifted them to the battlemechs' cockpits. "You will fight in Chameleons. These medium battlemechs handle differently than light battlemechs you have been training in. They are just as fast and carry 3 times the firepower. But be aware: these battlemechs are equipped with more energy weapons than their freezers can handle. Fighting foolishly will put you in heat trouble really fast. So watch your fire."
Noloty's mind drifted through a series of horrific 'accidents' that could happen when the Chameleon overheated. All mechwarriors were equipped with cooling vests to help regulate the temperature. What would happen if the vest malfunctioned? What would happen if the shutdown sequence malfunctioned? What would happen if the waste heat cooked off the ammunition bins for the machine guns? What would happen…
"Cadet Noloty!" the instructor's thundering voice brought her back to reality. "Any question?"
"Uh, no, Sir!" she stammered.
"You know the drill. Last cadet standing wins. Good luck."
As soon as the instructor walked off the platform, Noloty dragged Kayoko aside. "Listen, take it easy with your shots, OK? Don't overburden your mech with heat."
"If I didn't know you better, I would've thought you were asking me to throw the game," Kayoko jested.
"I am serious!" Noloty grasped Kayoko's arm. "They matched us to fight each other for a reason."
"And what would that be?"
"I don't know. I really don't know. I just have a bad feeling…"
"Don't worry too much," Kayoko put her hands on Noloty's shoulder. "Whatever happens, happens. You just go in there and do your best. Don't hold back for me. I may not be as good as you, but I will fight you with everything I have. I expect you to do the same. We are warriors, Noloty. Fighting is what we do. Promise me you will be that warrior you are trained to be."
"Kayoko…"
"Promise me!" Kayoko looked at Noloty with fire in her eyes. "Otherwise, you disrespect me."
"Alright," Noloty caved in. "I promise."
"May the better mechwarrior wins," Kayoko winked, then put on her neurohelmet. Noloty drew a deep breath, then proceeded to her Chameleon. She slid into the cockpit, strapped herself while initiating startup sequence. As expected, the console announced all systems nominal, but she didn't buy it. As soon as the Chameleon left the platform, she shot her large laser at the sky. A surge of heat swept the cockpit, and Noloty recorded the time for his mech to return to nominal condition. Armed with that information, she throttled up and reached the designated Nav point.
"Command, this is Cadet Noloty, standing by," she tested the comlink.
"Acknowledged, Cadet," the instructor replied, much to her relief. "Commence training!"
Noloty put her Chameleon into a jog and raised her active radar. It was a bad practice, for her signal could alert enemy units in the vicinity. But after what happened on the last training, she would rather see and be seen by than get blindsided by enemy units. If she could see the enemy, she could bring her weapons to bear.
Kayoko appeared on her radar a few minutes later, charging her full speed. She put her Chameleon in full sprint but as soon as she got into range she gunned her jets and twisted her joystick. Her Chameleon jerked right, hard, dodging Kayoko's murderous laser strand. Kayoko adjusted her course and fired her medium lasers as soon as they were available. One strand stabbed Noloty's Chameleon on the leg. Armor quickly turned to bubbling mass but no damage to the structure or the myomer.
Noloty twisted and circled Kayoko, now slowing down due to heat. She used her medium lasers to pepper Kayoko's left torso. Three laser bolts turned the armor into dripping globules. Kayoko's Chameleon wobbled on its knees, a combination of trying to outflank Noloty too fast and losing some mass.
At this time the heat gauge had reached one-third from the top. Noloty blinked hard to clear her eyes from sweat. Her cooling vest worked full speed, but it didn't stop sweat rivulets flowing down her breasts. She veered right to open a gap between her and Kayoko, waiting for her mech to cool down while reading Kayoko's maneuver.
Kayoko's maneuver, however, was not hard to decipher. With her medium lasers out of range, she resolved to the only weapon available. Her large-bored cannon flashed, sending a high-energy beam at Noloty's mech. This time she hit her mark. Noloty's Chameleon reeled as a ton of torso armor scattered into the air. Noloty held the joystick backward to compensate with loss of mass. Half of the armor was gone, and another hit like that would surely put her in a big trouble.
But Kayoko had her own problem. That last shot put her mech at shut down temperature. Steam hissed from every joint. The Chameleon became sluggish, and from Noloty's standpoint, it looked like a big sitting duck. Noloty lined up her crosshair at Kayoko's left torso and fired her large laser. The energy bolt wiped out the remaining armor and burnt internal structures. Kayoko's Chameleon rocked like a tree swaying in a gust, sprawling its arms to keep from stumbling.
Noloty promised not to hold back, but she was afraid to hurt or, quite possibly, kill Kayoko if she pressed her advantage, given what happened to her on the last training session. She just put her mech in cruise and circled Kayoko until she regained footing. Her instructor could chew her up anyway he liked. She could always blame it on the heat.
Kayoko tracked Noloty and, learning from her mistake, refrained from rushing another large-laser salvo. Instead she maintained the distance and waited until her mech could handle the waste heat before firing another round. Her laser beam grazed Noloty's Chameleon on the right leg. Noloty felt a faint tremor in the cockpit as the bolt carved a deep trench on the leg, but not deep enough for her to concern.
Seeing Kayoko in a more equal fighting position, Noloty started to open up her assault. She turned around and buried another large laser shot in Kayoko's left torso. The bolt stabbed the torso unabashed and singed the machine gun ammo bins. Seconds later the entire torso expanded into orange fireball, throwing the left arm spiraling into the air. The Chameleon twisted right, then slowly careened and slumped, face flat on the ground.
Noloty regretted that shot, but she took a deep breath of relief when Kayoko pulled herself up.
With clear advantage on hand, Noloty charged Kayoko until she got into the range of her small lasers. She linked all small lasers together and stabbed Kayoko's Chameleon in the right torso. Kayoko followed suit, strafing Noloty's damaged right torso. Noloty's armor gauge lit up, declaring less than 40-percent of armor remaining. Noloty pumped her jets to get out of Kayoko's firing arc. She twisted and fired her medium lasers in quick succession. The first one went wide, the second one cored Kayoko's right arm.
This brought Noloty's Chameleon halfway to shut down. It was painful even to breath. Noloty brought her mech in reverse while firing her .50-caliber machine guns at Kayoko. The weapon tandem didn't do much more than aggravating Kayoko. She raised both arms and slugged Noloty with both medium lasers. Noloty twisted right and brought her left arm to block Kayoko's onslaught. The laser beams cut through the armor. Kayoko followed up with her small laser trio. Spark burst from the incision, and the medium laser on the left arm went offline.
But once again Kayoko had to pay her valiant effort with considerable heat waste. She was in a much-too-familiar territory: her mech teetering in the brink of shutdown sequence. As a last ditched effort she flushed half of her coolant, forcing the temperature to manageable level, but risking future shutdown. Green steam wafted from the back of the Chameleon. As everything went back online, Kayoko fired her jets, bringing her mech out of Noloty's firing range.
Noloty throttled up and waited until Kayoko landed, then pumped her large laser. The beam stabbed Kayoko's damaged armor platings on the right torso. Black smoke billowed from the crater, a sure sign of critical hit. Consumed by panic and the need to finish the fight quickly, Kayoko answered Noloty's salvo with her own. Not only the rushed shot missed, it pushed her Chameleon to shutdown sequence, and with only half the coolant, the mech could only stand haplessly.
Noloty's Chameleon was also inching toward shutdown, but if her calculation was correct, one more shot at the right torso would disable Kayoko's Chameleon. That, if the safety shutdown sequence was not rigged, but looking at how the fight went, Noloty was certain the Chameleons were fully functional. Kayoko fought her heart out. It was time to end the fight in her honor. Noloty lined up her crosshair with Kayoko's right torso and let loose another laser bolt from the Chameleon's pistol-like cannon. A chain explosion tore the Chameleon's torso apart, and the 50-ton mech slowly collapsed in the middle of thick, black plume of smoke.
As soon as Kayoko's Chameleon went down, Noloty's weapons went offline. The instructor's voice crackled on the speaker, "Training complete. Return to base."
"Ryokai," Noloty replied, then quickly switched to private channel. "Kayoko! You alright?"
"You got me," Kayoko chimed. "Damn you're good. I never had a chance."
"Hey, hey, it's only a training," Noloty felt terrible to have to beat her friend, but she didn't know any other way. "Forget about it. Let's get out of here and have a shower. I feel sticky."
"I feel smoked," Kayoko quipped.
"Smart ass," Noloty giggled. "Come on, I'll give you a ride."
Kayoko exited her Chameleon and walked out of the black cloud until Noloty could see her. Noloty lowered the hand of her Chameleon and picked Kayoko up. She brought Kayoko like a man carrying a delicate porcelain vase until they both reached the platform.
"Good work," the instructor debriefed the two girls. "You managed your heat well. It is important in the fight to keep your mechs functional as long as possible. This is a very important training, and I hope you use it well. Cadet Noloty, you are dismissed."
"Yes Sir," Noloty snapped a salute and started to walk away, then realized that the instructor only dismissed one of two combatants. "Sir…"
"Cadet Kayoko, your effort is commendable, but the 2nd Sword of Light requires more than just determination. Your skill level is not enough to guarantee a position with the 2nd Sword of Light. You will be transferred to Buckminster Militia. You have 24 hours to pack your belongings. The truck leaves at 1500 hours tomorrow."
Noloty felt like the sky fell on her head.
"Sir, Buckminster Militia is not a battlemech unit," Kayoko said with trembling voice. "What am I supposed to do?"
"The decision has been made," the instructor completely ignored Kayoko's remark. "Dismiss, Cadet."
Noloty could only give Kayoko a look of terror.
