Keith Smith nodded, but a frown creased his forehead. "Got word today that it looks like ComStar will finally sign off on having Kai's Elemental buddies visit Solaris."
"But they miss the fight?"
"Right, which defeats the whole purpose of the visit." Keith drank some beer. "I had a circuit set up that could have gotten them here in time had ComStar okayed it yesterday. The problem was that the circuit would have passed through Skye—and one of the conditions for the visit is that they would not enter Skye space, for obvious reasons. I still haven't been able to arrange the new circuit for them yet."
"Tough break." Galen squinted as the 'Mechs began moving. "Looks like they've both decided to go hunting."
* * *
Kai instantly recognized his placement in The Factory. Largely because of gravity, the upper levels tended to be freer of debris, but because of the incredible amount of damage down in the lower reaches, the structural integrity of the upper floors was doubtful in many places. The phenomena of a 'Mech falling through a weakened floor was not unknown and generally not healthy for that unfortunate BattleMech.
Picking his way through a tangle of half-melted girders, Kai worked Yen-lo-wang toward the ramp in the northeast corner of the building. When The Factory had been a real industrial facility, there had been ramps strong enough to bear 'Mech traffic in the four corners of the facility. When the place was refitted to become an arena, the ramps had been rebuilt so Fight Control could open or seal any or all of them. Because Wu and Kai were known to be game fighters, the controllers had opened the ramps at opposite ends of the two floors. Had they been more timid fighters, they'd have been placed on the same level, with no ramps made available for escape.
The sound and vibration baffles between the floors would trap all indicators of the Centurion's movement, but Kai knew the baffles wouldn't stop thermal bleed through the ferrocrete. The climatic controls that had been installed during The Factory's last renovation weren't being used to modify the temperature, which would help disguise thermal bleed. The level of light in the arena meant vislight scans would function well enough. Better yet, they would provide spectators with the best look at the battle as it unfolded.
If they started me up here, then they probably started him down below. That means we'll meet in the middle. They'll use the delay of us cutting to the chase to show some ads. Which means they figure this fight will be quick and dirty. Kai smiled to himself. Quick I can handle, but only if I keep moving. If we stand and slug, I'm dead.
He started the Centurion heading down the ramp to the lower levels. Ready or not, Wu Deng Tang, here I come.
* * *
The softness of Omi's half-whispered question surprised Peter Davion. "Excuse me, Lady Omi, what was it you asked?" He smiled at her as he stepped back from Galen's side.
"I was wondering, Peter-sama, if you could explain to me why Kai would so willingly move his 'Mech in toward a confrontation with a larger, more powerful BattleMech?" Omi returned his smile, then looked down shyly. "This must be a strategy which I, not being a Mech Warrior, fail to understand."
Peter shook his head and watched Omi as he considered what she had asked and how she had asked it. Her question had been phrased to praise his ability as a Mech Warrior and to draw him out. She put herself in a subordinate position so he could help her understand something that puzzled her, and in so doing begin to build a bond between them. That she was in love with his brother might almost have made him think her stupid, but he'd already seen enough to know that couldn't be true. She is a crafty witch who would be happy to have me underestimate her.
"I do not know for certain, Lady Omi, but I can hazard a guess." Peter pointed to Kai's 'Mech as it moved swiftly across the level below where it had started, then moved down the ramp to the next lowest level. "The Centurion is a fast 'Mech, almost fifty percent faster than the Cataphract. That means Kai can get to a lower level faster than Wu can come up. He'll be able to meet him somewhere unexpected, and that gives Kai a gross advantage."
"That is a tactic worthy of a warrior." Omi smiled politely, then bowed her head to Peter. "You are quite insightful."
"And you are very kind." Peter graced her with his plastic smile. "I now understand why my brother thinks of no one but you, Lady Omi." And as any physical liaison with you would likely cost my brother the throne, I can truly wish you both the happiness you desire.
* * *
Kai would have been impressed with Peter's analysis of his strategy, with the addition of only one minor refinement. As his Centurion descended the first ramp, Kai covered the next level with the Gauss rifle mounted in his 'Mech's right arm. That sparked an idea that sent him racing to the ramp leading to the next level down. Once again his Gauss rifle commanded the new level, bringing a smile to Kai's face.
Coming down I expose my right side. Going up, Wu will have to expose his left flank. He pushed Yen-lo-wang on through the third level and came to the fourth. Here he slowed his speed, his approach becoming more cautious. Supports ran in tandem down the middle of the rectangular factory floor. Walls that had once separated sections of the floor were now reduced to rubble, and chunks of ferrocrete from previous reconstructions of upper levels littered the floor.
The metal from girder scraps and rebar roots hanging out of ferrocrete boulders made using magres scans impossible. Kai almost switched over to infrared to pick up heat from Wu's approach below, but he decided against it, instead pushing on toward the ramp leading up from the lower level. He brought Yen-lo-wang up onto two ferrocrete boulders fifty meters from the opening, then hunkered down and waited.
The ferrocrete will absorb some of the thermal energy I'm putting out, so I'm safe from detection for a bit here. Now for how long ... ? Not very.
Wu Deng Tang was neither a stupid nor a suicidal fighter, which was why he was mounting the up-ramp at full speed. Had he been coming up more slowly or had he stopped to peek up over the edge of the floor, it would have left his 'Mech's head vulnerable. As it was, the difficulty of negotiating the steep slope meant he had to hunch his 'Mech's torso forward for balance, preventing him from being able to bring the weapons on the right side of the machine's body into play.
Kai dropped the gold cross hairs onto the Cataphract's outline. As the computer flashed a golden dot in the heart of the cross, he hit the thumb buttons in quick succession and squeezed the trigger on his joysticks. Both pulse lasers sent out their ruby energy flechettes to boil away armor on the Cataphract's left arm. The silvery Gauss rifle projectile sped from the muzzle at the Centurion's right wrist and arced in to hammer the right chest area of Wu's 'Mech. Armor plates crumbled under the onslaught, and Kai knew the exchange had done significant damage to the Cataphract.
In response Wu did what would have been all but impossible for anyone save a superior 'Mech pilot. He lurched his 'Mech up and forward, racing for cover on the upper level instead of retreating to the lower one. Most fighters would have chosen the latter, taking the position of waiting below for Kai to come down to them. Fight Control would have opened another ramp to give Kai another way down and to preserve the advantage his bold strategy had given him.
As Wu moved forward, he swung his 'Mech's left arm wide and triggered a burst with the pulse laser mounted beneath its forearm. The energy darts found their mark on Yen-lo-wang's broad chest. Part of the beautiful Kessler paint job combusted when molten armor poured down over it. The auxiliary monitor in Kai's cockpit showed that he'd lost thirty-three percent of the armor over his 'Mech's midline, and that brought the two opponents back even closer than Kai would have hoped.
Wu's shooting impressed him. If that was just a snapped shot, he's damned lucky—and even more dangerous than I thought. Still, I'm nearly through on the right side of his chest. Kai leaped his 'Mech back off the ferrocrete boulders and hunkered down behind them. Could be one shot and out, for either of us. Gotta be careful.
DropShip Qianlian, Inbound to Solaris VII
Tamarind March, Fe
derated Commonwealth
Deirdre stroked David's hair as he lay with his head in her lap. Pulling the blanket up over him, she dearly wished the man in the seat opposite would keep his voice down. He had been polite enough to plug his headphones into the portable holovid viewer, but whatever feed he was getting from Solaris apparently had his blood up.
She could see the reflected light from the LCD display on his face, and when the reflections looked less like explosions and other excitement, she reached out with a slippered foot to touch his leg. "Can you keep it down?"
The man looked from her foot to her face and back down, then he frowned. "What?" he asked much too loudly, then blushed and removed the headphones. "Excuse me, what?"
"Can you try to control your voice?" She gave him as kind as smile as she could. "My boy is very tired. I don't want him to wake up."
"Sure," the man said, giving her a friendly smile. "But I bet he'd like to be watching this, too. Hell of a fight so far."
Deirdre shook her head. "I don't allow him to watch fights."
"This isn't just a fight, ma'am, this is art. Kai Allard-Liao is defending his title. This is history." The man shook his head. "He's piloting his father's 'Mech in The Factory."
She closed her eyes, feeling tears suddenly well. "Please, sir, can you see if they're showing the fight in the saloon here. My son ... I lost his father to the Clans and war."
The man nodded sympathetically, accepting her lie. "I'm sorry. Sure, I'll go. This screen is too little to see much anyway."
"Thank you." She gave him a brave smile that covered her regret at having lied. It was only after the door to the compartment closed that it occurred to her that her Kai had been lost to the Clans and war. And to my stupidity.
Deirdre turned to face the viewport, and stared at the planet toward which they sped. Pressing her hand to the clear plastic, she suddenly found herself doing something she'd never have dreamed of before. With all her heart, she offered a silent prayer for Kai's safety.
Solaris City, Solaris VII
Tamarind March, Federated Commonwealth
Speed is my advantage. Kai brought the Centurion to its broad flat feet and came around the ferrocrete boulders he had been using as cover. He darted directly for the narrow archway through which the Cataphract had vanished. Reaching out with his 'Mech's left hand, he posted off the archway and cut back to the left. Moving laterally down a narrow pathway through the debris, he let his cross hairs drift to the right.
Come on, you've got to be there.
Kai had expected Wu to step out through the archway. He knew the Cataphract had been hiding behind it because Wu would have fired on Kai's left flank from cover had he moved further west through the debris on the far side of the level. Kai had intended to draw Wu out with his feint toward the opening, but the other Mech Warrior wasn't going to play the game by Kai's rules.
Had Wu done what Kai had expected, he'd have kept his damaged right flank behind the arch, giving Kai another chance to blow off the damaged arm. Instead of staying half-in and half-out of the archway, Wu pivoted his 'Mech on its left leg and mirrored Yen-lo-wang's lateral drift. When he appeared on Kai's tactical display, he was a bit more to the center than Kai had expected, but correction of aim was no problem.
Both men fired their weapons at the same time, but this time Wu's aim wasn't so flawless. Both pulse lasers tracked low, evaporating hunks of ferrocrete instead of armor, but the PPC was right on target. The jagged beam exploded the armor plates off Yen-lo-wang's right arm, tracing a blackened scar from elbow to shoulder. The autocannon in the right side of the 'Mech's chest whined loudly as it spat out a hail of projectiles. Most of the hits ground away at the already-damaged armor on the Centurion's center torso, while some chipped the armor on the 'Mech's left breast.
Kai leaned forward and to the left to fight the twisting motion imparted to his 'Mech. Yen-lo-wang withstood the assault without much trouble while Kai kept the Cataphract covered with his cross hairs as his weapons hit back into it. Both pulse lasers eroded the armor over the Cataphracts midline, flirting with but failing to carry over to the nearly naked right flank. The Gauss rifle ball smashed into the 'Mech's left arm just above the elbow, blasting the last of the limb's armor into ferro-ceramic flinders, then crushing two heat sinks in a spray of yellow-green coolant fluid.
Kai knew he had Wu. One more exchange at this range and he's done. He's got only one chance. The moment the thought occurred to him Kai knew that his foe wouldn't hesitate to do what he must. The one shot he had could win the fight for Wu. He was damned good, as the trap at the ramp had showed, and the tactic he would use was worthy of a champion on Solaris.
Another time, Wu, against another foe. Kai stopped his 'Mech's leftward movement and darted straight forward. He leaped the Centurion over a low pile of rubble and dropped into a crouch, the 'Mech's massive legs cushioning its landing. Kai's skill as a pilot made the war machine move cat-light and cat-quick despite its enormous size. Damned few other pilots could have matched the move, and even fewer would have anticipated it.
Which is why I am champion here. Kai twisted his 'Mech's torso to the left and dropped his cross hairs onto the Cataphract.
Wu's 'Mech had also moved forward and had thrust its right arm through one of the archways supporting the roof. Had Kai remained traveling to the left for another exchange, the move would have caught him naked out in the open against a foe in heavy cover. Because he had instead crossed over to Wu's side of the floor, he caught the Cataphract with its most awesome weapon out of position.
One of Kai's pulse laser's stitched laser needles along the roof support shielding part of the Cataphract, causing no damage. The other one hit on target, melting away the last of the armor on the right side of the 'Mech's body. The energy darts, hardly spent by the armor they devoured, skewered the LB-10-X autocannon and reduced the breech mechanism to molten sludge.
The Gauss rifle's silver sphere pounded into the Cataphract's left knee, snapping the leg out straight. It blasted away more than seventy percent of the armor and knocked the limb askew. The 'Mech's left arm flailed through the air in a vain attempt to rebalance the machine. Amid a cloud of armor shards, the Cataphract went down on its back.
Were Wu any other fighter on Solaris, Kai would have opened a radio channel and demanded his surrender. He knew that Wu, being sensible and honorable, would likely have accepted even though his 'Mech was still operable. The loss of the autocannon and the breaches of armor on the left arm and right torso left little doubt as to the outcome of the fight, but Wu could have kept going.
Kai advanced carefully and targeted the Cataphracts legs, the pulse lasers stripping armor from the 'Mech's right leg. The Gauss rifle's silvery ball whipped through the armor-fog created by the lasers and slammed into the Cataphracts left thigh. The little armor left on that leg joined the pile of debris below it, then the ball burrowed in through the thick myomer muscles and hit the ferro-titanium femur. The ball shattered the bone, then ricocheted off deeper into The Factory.
Kai keyed his radio. "You have fought well, Wu Deng Tang. We shall stop now, if you do not mind."
"Thank you, Kai Allard-Liao. I would be willing to continue, but there would be no purpose in it. I have a son I want to see born."
Kai laughed. "And I want your son to have a father. It is over. I may be the victor, but in no way should you feel the vanquished."
28
Mandrinn's Estate, Solaris VII
Tamarind March, Federated Commonwealth
20 April 3056
Tormano Liao smiled broadly as Deirdre Lear and her young son were ushered into the informal dining room of his estate on Equus. "How very nice it is to meet you finally, Doctor." He bowed to her, then shifted slightly to bow to David. "And you, young man."
David executed a smart bow. "Zao, Mandrinn Liao."
Truly surprised, Tormano clapped his hands. "Bravo, David, your Chinese is excellent."
His mother blushed appropriat
ely. "He's been learning a little on Zurich."
"That's good," Tormano said. "I believe the sharing of languages is the first step toward the reunification of mankind." He waved the two of them toward the table, which had been set with common crockery and flatware to deemphasize the opulence of his estate. The table itself sat in a glass-walled porch which, as the day neared noon, just happened to be bathed in sunlight.
"I apologize for not meeting you at the spaceport last night," Tormano said smoothly, layering a pained expression over his face. "My nephew was engaged in another of his battles and my attendance was required. I would have tried to escape it, but Duke Ryan Steiner was my guest, and well, in these times of political tensions, to abandon him would not have been wise."
Deirdre picked David up and settled him on a chair facing the expanse of rolling lawn and heavy forest surrounding the estate. "I guess we're both prisoners of politics, my lord."
Tormano frowned momentarily, then forced a smile. "Doctor, believe me when I say I realize you would have preferred to remain on Zurich treating your patients. Your dedication to your work is not in question, and the two doctors I sent to fill in during your absence should be an indication of how highly I value your services to my people."
Deirdre took a seat opposite him. "Your people? Forgive me, but Zurich is part of the Federated Commonwealth."
Tormano smiled and raised his hands. "Ah, yes, a point well taken. I have tried to repress the paternal feelings I have for those worlds once part of the Capellan Confederation. Still, I feel a greater rapport with their people than Prince Victor or any of the other Steiner-Davions apparently do. I had once hoped Kai would share my interest, but ..."
Deirdre raised an eyebrow. "But Kai funds the medical center where I work."