Simulator Mission VI: Practice

[MechWarrior Alex Thorn]

I walked into the simulator room. The low lighting was soothing to my eyes. I wanted to have a practice battle to get used to my Belial. It had been several weeks since I had left House Steiner and been in my Belial there. I wanted to make sure I could use it to its highest pontential before the next OP. I slowly walked forward wondering what kind of practice battle I could do.

[Captain Benjamin Maxwell]

"The simulator can create any sort of environment you're looking for," I remarked, stepping through the hatch. I had planned on running solo tests based on the stats given to me for the new Hellhound before I actually went downtown to have a look at it, but perhaps Alex would be interested in sparring.

"I like Bogged Down for practice runs, myself."

[MechWarrior Alex Thorn]

I quickly spun around to see the captain standing there. I gave a small smile.

"Ah. Bogged Down. An old favorite of mine. Would you like to join me in battle?"

[Captain Benjamin Maxwell]

"Most assuredly." I smiled, and walked up to the simulator's terminal. I keyed a few options, programming the parameters of the Hellhound into the database. I pulled up Bogged Down, and prepared to launch the simulation, looking to Alex as I did so.

"Ready to go?"

[MechWarrior Alex Thorn]

A smile cracked across my face.

"You bet I'm ready."

[Captain Benjamin Maxwell]

The simulator room whisked away, and a sprawling, swampy landscape unfurled before me. I was seated in the cockpit of my Hellhound, condensation beginning to form on the ferroglass canopy as the humid wind whipped past. The scope showed clear - no hostiles anywhere - just as I expected it would.

I keyed the mic open.

"All right, Alex. Let's dance."

I smiled, and pushed my throttle to full.

[MechWarrior Alex Thorn]

A smile came across my face as I found myself in my Belial. I edged the throttle forward.

"Lets."

The sensation of being in a mech returned to me. A familar feeling came over me as the seconds passed. I knew this would be a tough fight. The captain outranked me and probably could out pilot me, but I would give it my best. I then pushed to Belialforward.

[Captain Benjamin Maxwell]

I crested Nav Alpha, a high mound situated in the center of the swamp, which permitted me a nearly unobstructed view of the watery sludge and overgrowth that comprised the landscape. Out of the corner of my eye, a flash of light lanced across the water. I swung my sights toward it, and a moment later, my threat indicators screamed. It was Alex's Belial.

The fight was on.

[MechWarrior Alex Thorn]

I was keeping an eye out for the captain when something screamed at me. I looked down to see it was my threat indicators. Dang! He found me first, I thought. "So much for the element of suprise."

I whipped my Belial around to see the captain's 'Mech sitting where Nav Alpha was. Man, he has beaten me on two things. First, he spotted me first and second he has the higher ground. I will just have to work with what I have. I thought to myself. I didn't let off the throttle and headed straight for the captain.

[Captain Benjamin Maxwell]

Alex's Belial charged straight for me, hammering away with its pulse lasers. I returned fire with an Alpha strike, my ER Large Lasers scorching a charred line across the oncoming BattleMech's torso. The buckshot-like LBX rounds flew wide, glancing past its left arm as my SRMs were swatted out of the sky by the 'Mech's AMS defense.

As I parried to the left, Alex swung his gauss rifles just ahead of my 'Mech's path, and the concussion of their discharge gave me about half a second to react before both rounds crashed into my Hellhound's left leg actuator. The damage readout instantly shifted to red, indicating imminent failure.

Shit...

"Nice shot! Very nice. Great target leading - keep it up."

I parried hard to the right, preparing to set up a Circle of Death.

[MechWarrior Alex Thorn]

I charged hard and I charged fast. The ER Large Lasers jolted my 'Mech. Gritting my teeth I continued on. Thankfully my AMS system diverted the SRMs. As the captain turned I lead him with my Gauss Rifles and fired. They hit directly on his left leg. Another smile came across my face as the captain radioed in.

"Thank you."

I started to turn and shifted the torso of my Belial to face the captain. I fired a volley of SRMs and fired a couple rounds of my pulse lasers.

"Come on, come on," I said through gritted teeth at my read out. The Gauss Rifles were almost charged for another shot. If I have any shot of winning this it will be because of my Gauss Rifles, I thought.

[Captain Benjamin Maxwell]

I throttled the Hellhound to full, and swung into a hard left, pivoting my torso ninety degrees inward to face the Belial as I circled it. My LBX-10 autocannon reloaded, and I drew a bead on the BattleMech's rear quarter, letting fly with a punishing barrage of 'Mech-class buckshot. The rounds tore into the Belial's rear armor, obliterating plating and crushing feed lines as it impacted the 'Mech's thin rear shielding.

Almost immediately, Alex began to countercircle, hammering away with his pulse lasers. Our 'Mechs were locked in a dance of death, both of us vying to be the next one to score a critical hit. The Belial's gauss rifles posed a far more serious threat than any of my weapons systems did, but I was counting on the Hellhound's speed and maneuverability to win the day. My SRMs arced toward the Belial's narrow cockpit, smashing into a fin-mounted heatsink before the AMS system could swat them away.

My heart began to race.

[MechWarrior Alex Thorn]

This was not a good situation. The captain was using his speed against me. My Gauss Rifles were ready to be fired but I didnt have a clear shot and much more of the beating I was taking and I would be finished.

The SRMs that took out the heatsink didn't help. This meant that I had to be careful about how fast I fired my weapons.

Thoughts were racing though my mind. Situations were playing over and over as my brain rushed to come up with a quick solution. Sweat was starting to pour down my face; my heart was in my throat. Then a thought came to me. I stopped trying to follow the captain and whipped my Belial in the opposite direction. I calculated the distance between the two rotations and when I thought appropriate I fired my Gauss Rifles. I prayed that they would hit their target.

[Captain Benjamin Maxwell]

The gauss rounds crashed into the side of my 'Mech with the speed and ferocity of a runaway freight train. My Hellhound, having been struck in the midst of a hard run, instantly lost its balance, and plowed into the ground, landing hard on its right side. I was jolted violently in my harness, my head slamming against the chair's support frame, and the 'Mech's right arm crushing under its massive weight.

I struggled to get the Hellhound back to its feet as two more gauss rounds tore into the 'Mech's body, sending it back into the mud of the swamp.

Swinging the torso of my BattleMech around, I tried to draw a bead on Alex's 'Mech from my prone position on the ground. The Hellhound's actuators continued to strain under the constant barrage of the Belial's weapon strikes, as it fought furiatively to right itself.

My autocannon gone thanks to the fall, I managed to get off a blast from my ER Large Lasers, which scored a pitifully small amount of damage on the Belial's left leg.

This was going downhill FAST.

[MechWarrior Alex Thorn]

I opened my eyes to see if the Gauss Rifles had hit. They had and more. The captain's 'Mech was on the ground and struggling to get up. I fired more rounds of my Gauss Rifles once they recharged. Then I sent a wave of SRMs into the 'Mech. The ER Large Laser hit my 'Mech's leg and sent a jolt through to the cockpit. I rotated around to circle the captain. I fired rounds from my pulse lasers into the side of the 'Mech. Sparks flied as the lasers scored across the armor. I was fixing to fire another round from my Gauss Rifles when a voice came over my mic.

"Warning! Heat exceeding recommended levels"

"No. Not now."

I rushed to flush coolant over the heatsinks. This was not a good thing.