He again targeted the stricken Blackjack.With help from the BattleMaster,it had begun to regain its feet, but five missiles and the brilliant scarlet beam of Kai's large laser chopped off its right leg at the knee. Meanwhile, the Gauss rifle's silver slug pounded its way through the armor on the 'Mech's left flank and crushed the left side of its torso. The 'Mech twisted in the BattleMaster'sgrip, then flopped to the ground.
Kai kicked the Daishiinto high gear, cutting back to the left. He turned sharply, presenting his back to the Archer.It cut loose with two score LRMs and delivered over half of them on target, blasting armor from the Daishi'shead, back, right flank, and right arm. The computer, simulating the damage, threw the gyro out of phase for several seconds, but Kai fought the controls and managed to keep the loping Daishiupright.
Before the Archercould fire again, Kai put a hill between him and the enemy task force. A quick review of the damage to his armor revealed about half the rear armor blown off, but he dismissed that problem almost immediately. If I let anyone into my aft arc, I deserve to die. Damn you, Sun-Tzu. There's got to be something I can do.
Communications.He knew the Dragoons jammed radio broadcasts during the tests, but he wondered if they would lift the jamming now that Kai was alone. He switched his radio over to the tactical frequency the other trainees had used to communicate before the battle. A bone-twisting squeal ripped through the neurohelmet's speakers at first, then died abruptly.
He smiled as he brought the Daishito the end of a small valley and cut back north toward his enemies. Kai quickly punched up a frequency command for the computer and sent out a standard code. If they're not jamming everything, maybe this will work.He hit the Enter key, then crossed his fingers for luck.
The secondary monitor flashed twice, blanking the outline of the Blackjack,and replacing it with geological survey satellite feed of data from seismic sensors in the area. Kai magnified the image several times until he got an area roughly two kilometers in diameter, centered on himself. He ordered the computer to sort for and pinpoint areas of seismic activity, then set the threshold at .01 on the Richter scale. He laughed out loud when the computer painted six squares on the screen and appended their Richter ratings to them.
He continued to work his way north. As nearly as he could work out from Richter ratings, the BattleMasterand one of Sun's opponents had headed directly out after him. The remaining two of Sun's foes had come in slowly, but they appeared more interested in using Sun's 'Mech as cover against any southwestern approach by Kai than in hunting him. The BattleMasterand its wingman headed west once they passed through the low hills, obviously seeking to drive him north.
The Archerappeared to be moving very little. As a result, its icon kept vanishing from the screen. Kai knew, both from the parting shot that had hit him and the way that warrior waited, that the pilot in that machine was cagey. That worried him because he knew the only way he would survive was by his enemies getting so cocky that they came at him using no strategy at all.
I wish I knew the access codes to some of Wolf's spy satellites. Rather have the feed from those than from this rockhound bird.Kai narrowed his eyes and took one last look at the weather report. "It's now or never," he told himself. "Last stand, part one."
Cutting east, he brought the Daishiup over a ridge line a little more than 250 meters from the Archerand almost twice that from Sun-Tzu's abandoned 'Mech. Standing on either side of it were 'Mechs Kai identified as a Marauder II—the bigger, nastier brother of one of the deadliest BattleMechs ever made—and a Thunderbolt.The Maraudershared the Daishi'shunched frame, and clawlike weapon pods capped its skinny arms. The flight stabilizers marked it as jump-capable, but made it look no more graceful than its companion.
A desperate scheme popped into Kai's brain, and after a nanosecond's study of the primary monitor and its readout on his 'Mech, he decided to take the gamble. Even as the Archertwisted left and launched two missile flights, Kai brought his weapons to bear on the empty husk of Sun-Tzu's Daishi."You're supposed to be a big killer, well, do it!"
The Archer'smissiles hammered the Daishimercilessly. Red highlights dotted the right flank of his computer outline like spots on a leopard's pelt. The computer informed him of 40 percent reduced armor on his right arm, and a bloody circle showed where missiles had also destroyed armor on the 'Mech's foot. It again threw the gyro out of phase, but Kai wrestled the Daishiupright after a stumble and kept his weapons on their mark.
The missiles from Kai's LRM launcher chipped armor from each flank. The large laser in his right arm melted more of the same on the 'Mech's right side. Having bracketed his true target, Kai corrected his aim by a millimeter for the left crosshairs, got a target lock pulse, then punched the thumb button and uttered a short prayer.
The computer tracked the Gauss rifle's ball straight to and through the blackened hole that used to be the Daishi'scockpit. For a half-second, nothing happened, then the computer calculated the probable result of such a shot. The Daishi'storso plumped as if pregnant, then exploded.
On the computer array, its left arm swung around and hit the Thunderboltwith the Gauss rifle. The rail gun's capacitors detonated, then a subsidiary blast from within the Daishisprayed the Thunderboltwith shrapnel and Gauss rifle slugs. The Daishi'sbody, reacting to the force of the explosion on its left side, teetered to the right, colliding with the Marauder.
Kai realized the computers must have cut power to the Marauder'sgyros and legs because it went down beneath the Daishi'soutline as though if it had been tackled. The Thunderboltalso fell and the computer quickly updated the 'Mech's status, reporting that the armor had been stripped from its right side. Looking closer, Kai saw that the 'Mech's head had been destroyed as far as the computer was concerned.
Acting on pure instinct, he sent the Daishiflying forward in fits and starts. The erratic pattern made the Archermiss with two volleys, yet kept his weapons dead on the tangled wreck of 'Mechs ahead of him. As he closed to less than 100 meters, Kai let the Marauderhave a blast from the autocannon, and the computer showed the 'Mech's right leg amputated as a result of the attack.
Glancing at the earthquake display, Kai realized that neither the BattleMasternor the other 'Mech had any way of knowing what had just happened. The BattleMaster'scompanion had gotten 200 meters ahead of the larger 'Mech and was racing west, almost parallel with Kai's current position. Cutting south, Kai put a hill between him and the Archer,then raced into battle with the BattleMaster'spoint man.
A Hoplite!Kai laughed cruelly as he intercepted the barrelchested 'Mech at point-blank range. Built for scouting and support missions, the Hoplitewas neither armored nor armed for an extended battle with an Omni like the Daishi.The pilot brought his autocannon to bear. The hail of metal it spat out shredded the armor on Kai's right leg, but failed to even slow him.