Unable to fire any weapons. Phelan cut hard to the right, making the Lone Wolfdo a hop-jump that bounced him forward against the command couch's restraining straps. A silver ball skittered through the space he had just vacated. It skipped across the rocky landscape, bouncing off outcroppings of sedimentary rock, striking sparks wherever it actually hit. A second or two later, another Gauss rifle projectile whizzed over the Lone Wolfshead.
"Shit!" Phelan shot forward, pushing his 'Mech for all the speed it could muster. He broke to the left, then back to the right. He knew that would make him a difficult target to hit, but did not find much comfort in that. I used this same tactic when I fought Vlad for the very first time. It infuriated him because I refused to stand and battle it out like a "civilized" warrior.
Knowing how much Vlad hated him, Phelan had to admire the man's control. When Vlad fired his first shot, the Lone Wolfhad been well within the optimum range for all his weapons. Instead of letting loose with everything, the Clansman had carefully triggered one Gauss rifle and then the other. He's taken the name of his 'Mech to heart. This is not to be a slaughter. He intends it to be an execution.
Phelan hunkered the Lone Wolfdown behind a small mesa and readied all his weapons systems. With all his missiles and the ammo for the autocannon, he could be in big trouble if Vlad managed to get damage through his armor. Touching off a rack of missiles or starting the autocannon ammo exploding would destroy the Lone Wolffrom the inside out. Packing only energy weapons and Gauss rifles, Vlad didn't have to worry about explosive ammo getting hit.
A fragment of something he'd heard suddenly hurtled forward into Phelan's consciousness, and it was as though a blindfold had been torn from his eyes. "Vlad isn't in control. Natasha warned me about the power requirements for a Gauss rifle. Vlad hit the triggers for everything in his first shot. He's got the Gauss rifles set up as his primary weapons, so they get first crack at the power from his fusion engines!"
Phelan popped the Lone Wolfup to its full height and spotted the Executionerat half a klick and moving quickly. As Vlad brought the Omni around, Phelan cut loose with twin missile flights. With golden explosions, five missiles cratered the armor on the Executioner'sright leg. Over half the other flight ground into the 'Mech's left arm and blew out armor chaff.
The impact knocked that Gauss rifle off target, its round shell sailing high and wide of the Lone Wolf.A second later, however, the Executioner'sright-arm weapon launched its projectile in an electric flash. The Lone Wolflurched to the left as the ball pounded the 'Mech's left hip. Armor shards flew through the air and the 'Mech slewed half about.
Phelan twisted his body back onto the command couch and dropped the Lone Wolfinto a crouch. "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!" His primary monitor showed him that the upper portion of his left leg armor had been utterly destroyed. "One more shot like that, and I lose the leg!"
He knew Vlad would be a tough nut to crack, but confirmation of his power problem gave Phelan some hope.
Phelan backed the Lone Wolffrom the mesa, then worked to the left. He picked a spot between two jutting stone formations and stood there. His computer marked the Executionerat 300 meters, and Phelan hung both crosshairs on him. The second the dot in the middle of them flashed, Phelan sent two missile flights and a Gauss rifle shot at Vlad, then immediately ducked down. Through the open canopy, he heard the missile explosions.
Suddenly the earth shuddered beneath the Lone Wolf'sfeet. Dust and pebbles rattled into the cockpit as a silver ball gouged a divot from the embankment that hid Phelan. A scarlet energy beam sliced through the air right behind it, but neither attack did any damage to the Lone Wolf.
"He's figuring out what I've learned about his 'Mech. He may be a son of a bitch, but he's not stupid." For a half second, Phelan wondered idly why he hadn't stayed a bondsman. Anger at himself chased the thought from his mind. You're a warrior, that's why. Now be smart, hit hard, and run.
Twice more Phelan managed to use the terrain and his superior mobility to snipe at the Executioner.By circling, he managed to keep the right side of Vlad's 'Mech in his sights. The missiles scoured armor from the 'Mech's right leg, torso, and arm, leaving them covered with the tattered remnants of ferro-fibrous plating. But the Gauss rifle did the most critical damage. It punched through the weakened armor on the Executioner'sright breast, destroying the laser. The larger laser dropped down to crush one of the pulse lasers.
As dark smoke poured from the hole in the Executioner'schest, Phelan leaped his 'Mech up onto the ridge line he'd been using for cover to bring his autocannon into play. Vlad turned his 'Mech to meet Phelan head-on. Without a second's hesitation, all weapons oriented on their targets. At 200 meters, the two warriors let everything fly.
Phelan's paired flights of missiles shot from the Lone Wolf'sshoulders, drawing gray contrail lines in the air. Missiles chipped away at the armor over the Executioner'sheart and blasted armor from its right leg. More missiles poured through the hole in its right side and yet others chopped into the armor at the 'Mech's left shoulder.
Bracketed by the missile tracks, the trio of pulse lasers found their target easily. One drilled a hole through the Executioner'sright arm, evaporating its last armor. The second sent a stream of molten ceramic coursing down the 'Mech's left leg. The last blasted a staggered line of holes down the 'Mech's face in a crude parody of Vlad's own scar.
Phelan's autocannon tracked poorly and ripped away all but the last bit of armor on the Executioner'sright leg. The Gauss rifle's argent sphere pulverized the armor on the 'Mech's left arm, sending jagged sheets of it to the sand. Though the fire laid much of the arm bare, it did not destroy the Executioner'sown Gauss rifle.
Vlad's return fire rattled and shook the Lone Wolf,leaving Phelan feeling like a rock being shaken in a tin can. The first Gauss rifle slug blasted into the Lone Wolf'sleft arm, snapping the limb off at the elbow and spinning the 'Mech to the left. Phelan's Gauss rifle careened off to explode down in the trench he'd previously used for cover.
With his altered priorities in place, the Executioner'sbattle computer cycled through his lasers before it got to his remaining Gauss rifle. The pulse laser in the shattered right breast stitched a half-dozen steaming holes in the Lone Wolf'sright leg. The other two pulse lasers both melted a deep hole in Phelan's right flank. The Executioner'slarge laser lanced its red beam through the left side of the Lone Wolf'schest as Phelan brought his machine back under control and turned it to face Vlad.
The Executioner'sright-arm Gauss rifle spat out a hunk of metal about thirty centimeters in diameter. Nothing more than a silver blur, it shot straight into the middle of the Lone Wolf'schest. Phelan's teeth smashed together as the whole torso pitched up, jamming him down into the command couch. Vlad disappeared from view as the empty canopy filled with a vision of the cloudless blue sky. Phelan clawed at the arms of his command couch and tried to step back to steady the 'Mech, but the ridge offered him no footing.