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> Program: Skirmish 43
Captain Garrett Garland
post Jan 13 2006, 12:08 AM
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Joined: 16-December 05
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Stepping into the simulator room I found a familiar battle pod—these pods could replicate all of the conditions in a 'mech battle ranging from heavy impacts to extreme heat. Almost closing the pod's door… I waited for my opponent.

At exactly 1500 hours, I heard the simulator room's door open, revealing non other than Krystal McLure—and she didn't even know that the first part of her test had already begun. Patience was key to a MechWarrior's way of life—sometimes one would have to stay cramped in their mech cockpit, hidden in the hulk of a desolate building for hours if not days at a time. I'd giver her five minutes before she looked at her watch—even that was generous. I was pleasantly surprised when, seven minutes later, she finally checked her chronometer—she'd passed. Hopefully, she had spoken to other members of the Legionnaires about me, I'd check that later to see if she was collecting intel. And now, to see how she performed under pressure…

Opening the pod's hatch all the way, I revealed myself to the startled MechWarrior. Good—let her think of me as some strange and battered MechWarrior who hides in battle pods…

"Shall we?"

"Sir? Uh…yes sir… we shall."

I gestured to an opposing pod and closed my own pod's door—it was beginning.

Int: Skirmish 43

William Rhodes would not take too kindly to the program I was using as our test—but it turned out to be the perfect setting for a 'mech duel: a certain little town—a long forgotten battle on the planet of Kathil. I knew he had personally and painstakingly programmed it into the simulator, hiding it in a small subfolder where he assumed no one would ever look, but everyone knows what assuming does...

Hampton's Creek was a quaint town—it must have been very nice before the FedCom civil war. The little river running through the town's center was flowing quite nicely with the northern mountain's glaciers having begun to melt this early spring morning. And so—I just stood there… or at least sat there, strapped into my Shadow Hawk with its reactor still shut off. Ironic, I thought, that I too was facing an Uziel, just as William Rhodes had faced one. But that's where the similarities ended, and I was very glad of that. Two minutes had passed by, and still I saw nothing. My 'mech hid in the shadow of a colonial style manor house—it would have been a shame for such a work of architecture to be destroyed by a stray PPC blast. Peering over my command console, I noticed a disemboweled tree floating down the river—she must have crossed the bank a kilometer north or so. Powering up my 'mech, but leaving the sensors in passive mode with the ECM still engaged, I backed up and headed for the forest to the west—I would use the cover of the forest to circle around the town and come up to the river's edge a klick north where hopefully Krystal was carefully making her way south—I had a feeling that her feet might even be a little wet. I knew her 'mech was a heavy energy user, so she'd probably travel down the river bed—the soft soil would mask her 'mechs footsteps, and when things heated up her lower leg and foot based heatsinks would disperse all of her weapons' fire with ease. Carefully, I entered the forest, this would be an interesting hunt indeed—but so far I wasn't so sure that she was the one with antlers.

This post has been edited by Captain Garrett Garland: Jan 13 2006, 12:11 AM


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Position : Captain | LEGIONNAIRES
Callsign : Fox
Current BattleMech : Shadow Hawk [55 tons] [97.2 km/h max] [120 meter jump range]
Loadout : [1x Rotary AC5] [1x LRM-20] [1x Medium Pulse Laser] [2x Streak SRM-2] [AMS] [CASE] [ECM] [JumpJets]
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Krystal Mclure
post Jan 13 2006, 05:29 PM
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"Shall we?"

"Sir? Uh…yes sir… we shall."

The simulator changed and immulated a quaint little town. The town had a small river that ran near it along with a forest. I sat for a moment with my Uziel shut down. After taking in the settings I powered up and pushed toward the river. I knew my Uziel drew large amounts of power for the PPCs. If I stayed close tot he river the heat could be dissipated easily.

After a while I stopped next to the river. I tuned out the noise from my cockpit and focused on the surroundings. Soon I was able to discern the distinct sound of a 'Mech. Garland. Knowing the ShadowHawk had an ECM Suite, I figured he was using it. I switched my radar to passive. If I was going to be blind so was he.

I pushed a little deeper into the forest, making sure not to stray too far from the river.


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Position : Recruit
Callsign : none
Current BattleMech : Uziel (Braveheart) [Medium]
Loadout : 1x ER PPC, 1x ER Larger Laser, 1x AC/ 2, 4x ER Medium Lasers, Jumpjets
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Captain Garrett Garland
post Jan 14 2006, 06:19 PM
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As I proceeded slowly through the forest, I checked my few active sensors for signs of Krystal's Uziel, but without active radar I couldn't count on detecting her until she was almost on top of me. Another curious thing about the forest here—perhaps one day I would ask Rhodes about it—the trees gave off considerable ambient heat, and until Krystal started firing off her hot weapons I wouldn't have a chance of spotting her with my thermal sensors. For a moment, I stopped my 'mech to listen for the Uziel's 50-ton footsteps, but only heard the hum of my 'mech's fusion reactor. I turned my 'mech's torso to look at the river, to see if she'd crossed again checking for debris. As I was half-way through my turn, I heard a different humming noise, if only for a millisecond, and then the forest around me erupted in blue fire and lightning. Somehow, Krystal had pinpointed my location by tracing the sound of my footsteps—she'd used her seismic sensors to track me. Although not precise, she did know my general whereabouts and I did not know hers—but I intended to find out. Switching to thermal sensors I expected to see her 'mech's heat silhouette contrasting sharply with the forest, but I saw nothing—that could mean only one thing—she was cooling herself in the river. Brining up my 'mech's speed, saplings snapped beneath my feet as I pushed out of the forest. An AC2 burst shattered some of my right torso armor and a large laser scorched my center torso, but my 'mech's armor was thick enough to weather the shots. Firing down the same line, splintering trees and shearing off bark, I spat 100 mm autocannon rounds through the forest, hoping that the vast volume of fire would score some hits on the Uziel.

Daylight burst into my cockpit as I broke out of the forest's canopy. Clearly visible, the Uziel was 300 meters away, and without fear of heat build-up, Krystal unleashed all of her weapons at once. It looked as if a sun had gone super-nova right where she stood as five laser beams, a burst of autocannon rounds, and a blast of man made lighting coursed out of her 'mech to strike mine in the upper legs and torso. The water around her 'mech boiled and hissed as it evaporated, creating a cloud of steam around her. Reeling from the assault, I knew my chest armor had all but been worn away, but it was my time to strike back. Running forward across the bank I let lose with the large laser in my Shadow Hawk's right arm. Simultaneously I triggered my rotary autocannon, one of the most devastating weapons I'd ever used. The weapon was an impressive piece of machinery, capable of spitting out 100 mm rounds continuously unlike standard autocannons which had to reload. The Gatling style weapon had tremendous recoil, but my 'mech's whole weapon system had been designed around it, so the 'mech automatically compensated for the blow-back. I saw Krystal's upper torso and right arm armor shatter as I approached, unleashing with my 'mech's SRM-2s as I neared to 250 meters.

With the detonation of the SRM-2s, I saw a secondary fire in the back of her 'mech. Knowing what she was doing, I too triggered my jumpjets, flying into the air as river-side brush burst into flame around me. Checking my range finger I saw Krystal's 'mech speeding forward and upwards towards me—although she'd started a bit earlier than me, I had caught up due to my 'mech's increased thruster output. Looking out as a roar of fire carried me into the air, I could see Krystal lining my 'mech in her sights. A split-second before she fired I decreased the thrust in my left jumpjet, sending my in that direction. Just as I began to move leftwards, Krystal caught me with another alpha-strike. Thankfully, the shot did not hit my center torso, for she surely would have defeated me. Instead, the shot hit my right torso and arm, completely ripping the arm from the shoulder, exposing my reactor on the right side, shearing off my AMS, not that it was of any use against the Uziel, and taking off one of the Streak SRM-2 launchers as well. Interesting enough, the force of her shot actually spun my 'mech around enough to bring my weapons to bear back on her, but I did not fire, instead I put every last drop of mercury into my jumpjets and shot forwards towards her, intent on a collision course.

I didn't fault Krystal for it, but her choice of Battlemech had one unredeemable fault, shared by many Battlemechs—it couldn't fight close. It wasn't as bad as a Catapult or Yeoman, but the Uziel did not have maneuverable arms. In a really tight situation, if the pilot was an expert melee fighter, the Uziel's heavy arms could swing forward and bash a 'mech on its shoulders or head, but Krystal had just used her weapons in a firing position, and there was no way she'd get them ready to counter my attack. Sailing towards her, I extended my 'mech's left arm, opening its fist to reveal something which I was sure she was unaware of. Small darts of laser fire flew out from the concealed laser, saturating her cockpit in coherent light. I knew that hadn't finished her, but it had sufficiently warmed her cockpit's ferroglass to rendered it unstable and easily breached. With all of my concentration, I closed my 'mech's hand into a fist a thrust it forward, straight at her cockpit. Just as the fist was about to reach her, Krystal's canopy blew away and she rocketed out on an ejection seat. Just before canopy blew away, Krystal fired the only weapons that had recycled and were within a satisfactory firing arc—her medium lasers. Four beams of energy lanced into my exposed reactor, breaching the housing and subliming the reactors magnetic containment system. As her ejection seat flew away my cockpit filled with red light, denoting an imminent breach. Pulling back the cover, I toggled my 'mech's ejection switch. Explosive bolts exploded at my 'mech's neck, separating the head from the body as the two 'mech collided with one another. Shooting into the sky on rocket motors, my 'mech's severed head flew away with me inside, shaking my head in defeat. Opening a small special side panel in the cockpit I hit a red button. The cockpit monitors deactivated and the sound of the ejection rockets disappeared, their fire's light being replaced with the simulator room's equally artificial lighting.

Stepping out of the simulator pod, I found myself looking at the flushed and sweat soaked Krystal McLure—that alpha-strike in mid-air must have really caused some heat inside her cockpit, followed by the laser burst. Had the battle been real combat—I wasn't so sure that she would have stayed conscious—the simulator was slightly more forgiving, but I didn't say anything.

"MechWarrior… well done."

With that I left the simulator room—I would be very glad to have her in my lance.



This post has been edited by Captain Garrett Garland: Jan 14 2006, 06:20 PM


--------------------
Position : Captain | LEGIONNAIRES
Callsign : Fox
Current BattleMech : Shadow Hawk [55 tons] [97.2 km/h max] [120 meter jump range]
Loadout : [1x Rotary AC5] [1x LRM-20] [1x Medium Pulse Laser] [2x Streak SRM-2] [AMS] [CASE] [ECM] [JumpJets]
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Krystal Mclure
post Jan 14 2006, 10:33 PM
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I had found the Captain first. I fired my PPC in his general direction. Soon he burst into the open from the forest. I fired an Alpha Strike. Garland fired in return. The upper torso and right arm of my Uziel shattered as if it were glass beneth his fire. We both then fired our jump jets. Mine just before his. I fired again at him, spinning him around. As he came back around he fired again. This time right at my cockpit. The heat inside soared. I began to be drenched in sweat. He then came at me with his arm, aiming at the glass. I ejected quickly, but fired my medium lasers at his exposed reactor. I shot in the sky at a high rate of speed. As I looked down I saw Garland eject as our two 'Mechs collided in the air.

Everything was cut short as the simulator room turned back to normal. I stood there sweat pouring over me. Garland stood in front of me.


Mechwarrior....well done.

He then quickly left. I turned and watched him leave. A smile crept over my face. I had to tell Alex.


--------------------
Position : Recruit
Callsign : none
Current BattleMech : Uziel (Braveheart) [Medium]
Loadout : 1x ER PPC, 1x ER Larger Laser, 1x AC/ 2, 4x ER Medium Lasers, Jumpjets
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