-LCB40X, Abandoned Mining Settlement,
-Steel Viper Occupation Zone
-1 January 3069
A blue ball of electricity impacted to the left of
Kamon's Hellbringer and blasted a big hole in the wall. As the smoke and debris cleared
away one could look into the barely lit halls of the long since abandoned mining complex,
its powered-down machines and equipment now collecting nothing but dust, and its shaky
foundations about to collaps at several places.
But Kamon was not interested in the view behind his
mech, his attention was on the approaching Steel Viper summoner in front of him. The Mech
had missed on purpose -from where it had been it had been next to impossible to miss,
especially for a clan warrior- alerting Kamon to its presence, and challenging him to
single combat. While searching for combat, combat had finally found him.
Kamon raised his Mech's arms in acceptance, and slighty turned his Hellbringer to line it
up with the Approaching Grey Mech showing a Viper poised to strike on its center torso. On
his radar Kamon noticed that his star commander had found an opponent too, about a
kilometer away. Then he switched his radar to close range, secure in the knowledge that
Star Commander Sarah was more then capable of taking of herself, and the closer range
meant greater detail of his surroundings and his enemy's position.
The Steel Viper Mech fired first, its Long Range Missile
pack letting loose a salvo of about ten missiles. Immediatly Kamon's Anti Missile system
kicked in and shot down the missiles that did not veer ofcourse. All but one missile was
stopped, the one hitting Kamons left torso but causing only the slightest of damage. Kamon
turned his Mech, broke it into a run and twisted his torso to get a lock on the enemy
Mech. Then he fired both his PPCs. A heat wave swept over him but he was rewarded with two
hits. The blue electricity tearing great gaps into the summoner's left leg and left arm.
Kamon pressed the button for his short range missiles and a salvo of six short range
missiles sped out from his mech towards his opponent, missiles impacting all over its
torsos and arms. The Summoner seemed stunned under the force of Kamons counterattack and
stepped backwards. Retreating behind the
large non-functional power generator from which it had come. 'Good' Kamon thought to
himself, 'this will give me some time to cool off'. Keeping one eye on his Mechs sensor
and another on the heat gauge, Kamon watched as the heat meter dropped back to comfortable
levels. Then suddenly the Summoner appeared in view again, not to the left or right where
Kamon had expected, but above it. Using its jumpjets to jump on it. A tricky movement, for
the power generators top was not at all flat, and several tubes ran over it. Making
landing and keeping your balance very hard. The Summoner pilot managed it though, and
immediatly followed up with a burst from its deadly autocannon. This glorius battle
suddenly turned into a nightmare as autocannon shells ripped over Kamons cockpit. Making
cracks in the glass and causing some of his computers to short-circuit. Kamon was rocked
back and for and the noise of heavy machine fire defeaned him. Even worse, the
short-circuited computer caused a flash of fire which burned Kamon's arm before it was put
out by the Mechs automated anti-fire protectors. Taking advantage of his opponents
situation, the summoner followed up with a blast of his PPC, catching the Hellbringer
straight in the
torso but failing to penetrate its armor there, and then jumped forward, either towards
Kamons Mech or over it. But Kamon was not as stunned as his opponent would like, and
watched his targeting computer calculate the Summoners flight trajectory, then fired his
two PPCs. One of the two balls missed the Mech, frying the air just behind it, but the
other struck the Mechs already damaged left leg, destroying what was left of the armor on
that leg. Kamon let himself a small smile as he noticed sparks of electricity flashing
wild within the internal systems of the struck leg, meaning he had caused some internal
damage. The Summoner followed his jump path, landing on top of the Mining complex to
Kamons left, but was unable to keep its
balance, its damaged leg not responding to the miniature movements that were required for
such manouvers. The Summoner staggered, then fell backward, off the building, and right in
front of Kamon's Hellbringer. It crashed to the ground, flailing its arms and legs, and
destroying most of its back armor, as well as knocking the pilot around inside his
cockpit. Kamon ran towards the enemy Mech and carefully aimed his two PPCs at its cockpit,
then turned on his external speakers: "Well fought Mechwarrior, but the victory is
mine today. Because you will soon be part of the great Jade Falcon, I have no desire to
kill you. Please shut down your Mech, and accept your defeat."
Several moments passed, and Kamon thought the Steel
Viper Mechwarrior might decide to die rather then face defeat, a shame, cause he had shown
himself a more-then-able warrior, and with the Right of Absorbtion which had been granted
to his clan, Clan Jade Falcon, he would make a great asset to the clan. Maybe it was the
knowledge that he would be allowed to retain his position as a warrior that finally caused
the enemy pilot to chose not to die today, Kamon did not know, but he did know the
Summoner shut down, and he had won this fight.
Suddenly an unfamiliar voice crackled over the
com-channel. "Well fought Mechwarrior, but this Trial of Refusal is far from over.
Just like you won against my wing, I have won against yours. Now, shall we continue this
battle, or would you rather accept defeat and shut down ???". 'Impossible' Kamon
cursed to himself, then tried to turn his radar to longe range again, only to find it had
been destroyed by the cockpit hit by the enemy Summoner. Then he switched on the comm-gear
and tuned it to the private bandwith only his star used. "Star Commander Sarah, this
is Mechwarrior Kamon, please respond." ... But there was no response , only silence.
Then, out from behind several Heavy Tracked Carriers, he saw a Grey Mech appear, stepping
slowly but deliberatly over the debris at its feet. As a Clan Warrior, fear was not
something Kamon felt easily, or did not know how to deal with, but
a strangely familiar feeling crept in at the base of spine as Kamon watched the other Mech
come into view. It was a Nova, smaller and fifteen tons less heavy then his own
Hellbringer. It was slightly damaged from its previous fight, but none of that made Kamon
feel any better as he noticed the painted motif right above the cockpit. The of a skeletal
Viper, jaws open and poison dripping from its teeth. He knew the pilot, by reputation at
least, as Star Commander Varg Zalman, also known as Headhunter, for his uncanny ability to
blast a Mechs cockpit to shreds.
The Nova suddenly broke into a run, towards a point
somewhere to the right of Kamon's Mech. Wasting no time, Kamon lined up his two PPCs and
fired. One missed the Nova, passing just behind it, but the other hit it in its right
side. Damaging its torso right below the arm. Strangely, Star Commander Zalman did not
fire back, instead just kept on running. Deciding not to try and second guess his
opponent, who was without a doubt more experienced then himself, Kamon turned his mech to
the right to and kept his targeting computer straight on target. His heat meter showed
that he risked shutdown if he fired his PPCs again, so he triggered the release for his 3
medium pulse lasers, hitting the Nova twice in its right leg. And still the nova did not
fire back. Lining up for another shot, this time with his SRM launcher, Kamon turned his
Mech further to the right, when suddenly the Nova jumped into the air, turned its back
towards Kamon's Mech and jumpjetted backwards .... over the Kamons Mech into his virtually
unprotected back !!!
Franticly Kamon pulled the controls, and watched in
angony as the Nova opened up with ten of its twelve medium lasers. If Kamon had been a
fraction of a second slower, the shots would have hit his back and he would have been
dead. Instead, the Mech turned around just enough so that the ten medium lasers hit his
left torso instead, melting away the armor and penetrating deep into the internal systems.
The violent blast pushed Kamon's mech slighty to right, causing it the trip and fall down.
Kamon was pushed hard into the safety harness by the gravity from the fall, then back into
his seat as the Mech hit the ground with a deafening 'clang'.
Kamon managed to stay conscious, but fell blood trickle
down from his head at his left temple, he probably had a concussion, or worse. 'No time to
worry about that now'. He checked his readouts and noticed most of his left torso had been
totally destroyed, taking the left arm with it as well as damaging the internal fusion
engine. Already heat from the damaged engine was starting to find its way into the
cockpit, which was soon going to become a living hell. The destruction of his left torso
and arm also meant that one of his PPCs and all three of his medium lasers were lost.
Firing the other PPC was next to suicidal with the heat coming from the engine, which left
him with only a Short Range Missile launcher and a Machine Gun. Even worse, he was lying
down on the ground while his opponent was moving closer. 'Have to move fast', he thought
to himself and grabbed for the controls, trying to get his Mech upright again. Luckily the
fall had not damaged the neurohelmet he was wearing, without which he would not be able to
balance his Mech and would not be able to get up again. ....
Using his hands to push himself from the ground, then
bracing the Hellbringer on its right knee, he was slowly managing to get his Mech upright
again when the Nova continued its assault, coming up at his back, it fired another salvo
of seven medium lasers into his right leg, blasting away all of the Mech's armor and
damaging the internal systems. Yanking the throttle as hard as he could, Kamon somehow
managed to keep from falling over, and even managed to turn its mech, using the right leg
as a pivot and pushing away with his left leg. Kamon knew he would not have much of a
change getting up with the Nova firing at him, so he fired his one weapon which could
cause enough damage to get it to back off ... his PPC. The PPC crackled as it came to life
and fired its deadly charge straight into the Nova's already damaged right torso,
destroying the rest of the armor and causing havoc within. With renowed hope, Kamon
watched as the right arm went dead, its controllers severed by the PPC blast. The Nova
jumped away from him, its heat was probably way into the red after those two salvos, and
it could not risk firing again ... 'This will give me some time' Kamon thought to himself
.... when suddenly his right torso exploded in a fierce fireball, its ammo having been
cooked by the Mech's heat. The CASE systems kicked in and catapulted the Hellbringers
right side away before it could destroy the entire Mech. Which left Kamon's Mech without
any weapons !!!
But Kamon was not ready to give up yet. Looking around
him, he brought his Mech back on its feet and ran for the hole blasted in the Mining
complex wall earlier. He made it safely, and took its Mech into the complex itself.
Inside, it was dark, with debris and small machinery scattered everywhere. Making even a
relativly simple thing like walking into a hazardous move. Kamon checked his sensors and
noticed, like he had suspected, that the large concetrations of metal and ore inside the
mine played havoc on his sensors. It will be hard to detect any Mech inside the complex,
which is exactly how Kamon wanted it ...
He ran further into the complex, then moved his Mech
behind a large piece of machinery, some sort of digging-equipment, and watched the hole in
the wall for his oponent. Several seconds later the Nova appeared in the hole, carefully
scanning its surroundings before finally moving in. "You have no weapons left
Mechwarrior", the sudden voice of Star Commander Zalman, amplified over the Nova's
external speakers brought a jolt of surprise moving through Kamon's body. "Give up
now, or I will be forced to kill you". The Nova came to a standstill and waited.
Kamon did not reply, but instead decided to wait as well. After about a minute, Star
Commander Zalman spoke again "Very well, so be it. A senseless dead, but since you
have fought with
skill, I will honor your request". The the Nova started walking forward again, very
slowly, its torso sweeping from one side to
another, weary of ambushes. Kamon watched as the Nova came closer and closer, then
suddenly broke his Mech into a run straight at his enemy. The Nova spotted him and turned
around to fire, but Kamon sidestepped just that instance, and the blast of lasers hit one
of the support beams which held up the ceiling. The support fell down to the ground, and
small bits of stone fell from the ceiling, hitting the Hellbringer but doing no damage.
Kamon continued his run towards the Nova and sidestepped behind another support just as
the Nova was about the fire. Fire from its medium lasers hit the support and blasted it to
shreds. Causing even more stones and debris to fall down as the ceiling began to gave way.
Kamon stepped forward over the destroyed support beam and kicked out at his opponent,
hitting the right leg and forcing the Nova on its knee. Recovering his balance for a
second kick, Kamon watched the Nova's arm come up ... and fire ... straight at his cockpit
!
Laser fire melted the already damaged armor on the
cockpit and blasted its way inside. Instantly vaporising the pilot and destroying the
Mech. However, just as the lasers hit, the Hellbringer shifted its balance slightly to the
left. Whether this was on purpose or by accident was impossible to tell, but the result
was that the Hellbringer fell down to the left, straight into another support beam. The
beam snapped in two, and the Mech broke through, continuing its fall towards the ground.
The destruction of the support beam caused a loud grinding sound to be heard from above,
as suddenly the ceiling collapsed in on itself, burrying both Mechs in a shower of stone
and metal ...... destroying both Mechs, and killing any live occupants....
- MechWarrior Wight Pryde
