Final Exam
By Hotwire
Robinson,
Draconis March, Federated Suns
23 May 3024
“What the hell am I doing?†Phineas asked himself, not for the first time. This was stupid and certain to get him into trouble he didn’t need.
Trouble. Now that was something he was familiar with. In the four years that he had attended the Robinson Battle Academy, it seemed to follow him everywhere. Not that he didn’t ask for it sometimes; Phineas had a problem with the pecking order at the newly reopened MechWarrior training academy.
Technically, anyone who showed potential in piloting a BattleMech, the walking engines of war that dominated the 31st century battlefield, should be able to attend the Robinson Battle Academy, but that wasn’t reality. The limited class seats went to the sons and daughters of the Federated Suns nobility, regardless of ability.
The only reason Phineas Black was there was because of his family history. It was good publicity for the academy to admit a descendant of a Kentares Massacre survivor. Unfortunately, many of his blue-blooded fellow cadets didn’t feel the same way. They didn’t want a commoner among them, least of all one whose family scavenged lostech from the ruined cities and rusting factories of Kentares IV.
Even after more than 200 years, the worst atrocity of the Succession Wars still served as a rallying cry for the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns. The murder of almost 90% of Kentares IV’s population during the Draconis Combine’s invasion of the Federated Suns in the 1st Succession War guaranteed a staunch hatred for the neighboring interstellar empire. Phineas’s problem was that this didn’t extend much goodwill his way.
The academy’s VLK-QA Valkyrie responded smoothly to Cadet Black’s commands, the strides of the 30 ton ’Mech eating up the distance to the training grounds south of the academy. On his screens the pond came into view up ahead, with the late afternoon sun reflecting off it. On its opposite shore waited his opponent Oliver Montresor in another academy ’Mech, a PNT-9R Panther. His enemy already had its weapons trained on him.
Oliver Montresor was a bastard. Not literally, his family was far too careful about its image to allow anything like that to publically stain its name, but the young Count of Andorra certainly lived up to the word. Starting the first day that Phineas Black entered the venerable halls of the Robinson Battle Academy, Montresor had deemed it a personal insult that he had been allowed in. Being admitted at the early age of 15 and a knack for sizing up a tactical situation during exercises didn’t help either.
Phineas stopped his ’Mech at the pond’s edge opposite the Panther and considered his situation. The Valkyrie gave up 5 tons to Montresor’s ‘Mech, but he had an edge in speed and maneuverability. All other factors, however, favored his enemy. Phineas was particularity worried about the Lord’s Light particle projection cannon the Panther carried. The weapon was a killer, and Phineas was just glad that this was a simulated fire duel, not the real thing.
Off to his left he noticed a red hovercar fanning its way towards him from the wooded copse it had been idling near. The vehicle was filled over capacity with other cadets who were shouting and cheering, and obviously drunk. As they circled his Val’s legs, they bounced beer cans off the 30 ton war machine. Stepping on the car crossed Black’s mind.
One of the cadets in the hovercar produced a megaphone and shouted “I can’t believe you showed! He showed up! What an idiot! Ya ready to get your scavie skin beat Black?†He could hear the others laughing.
“Black and blue, right?†came from another cadet in the car, his jibe also caught by the megaphone. Further jeers were cut off as a tussle developed over who would be the next to amplify their insults. The hovercar drifted away.
Phineas opened a channel to the Panther. A visual transmission appeared on his comm screen and his temper flared at the sight of Oliver Montresor smirking from the face shield of his bulky neurohelmet, obliterating Black’s recent misgivings about this fight. He was finally going to wipe the floor with this prick, and no other cadet or instructor was going to stop him this time.
“Ready Black? You look nervous. I didn’t think you had the balls to take the Valkyrie and come out to face me.â€
But it was Montresor that looked nervous. His eyes shifted back and forth as if he just got more than he bargained for. Well, he did, thought Phineas, with some satisfaction.
“I’m here Montresor. How did you get the clearance to release the ’Mechs from the hanger?â€
Oliver Montresor’s pale face wrestled with the effort to control his anger over Black addressing him by his family name. He always bristled over slights to his noble rank, and this low-birth commoner refused to acknowledge his station. That would soon be rectified… and the young Count’s cruel smile returned at the thought of it.
“We don’t have clearance, scavenger. I’ve got influence.â€
The comm signal cut off. Black blew a dark lock of hair trapped by his neurohelmet out of his eye and thought back to last night. He had received a package from his father back on Kentares IV and opened it alone in his dorm room. Inside was his AFFS dress uniform for graduation. It was second hand; you could tell if you examined it closely, but it was his and he had earned it. The note that accompanied it was short and read:
Phin,
You’ve made your old man proud.
Hope these both fit.
Stay safe,
Dad
P.S. Check the pocket.
“Both fit? Dad, what are you up to?†Phineas checked the uniform’s pockets and found the registration papers for a rebuilt WSP-1A Wasp light BattleMech in his name. The ’Mech had recently arrived from Kentares IV and was currently in storage at the spaceport. Phineas Black smiled.
Jeremiah Black, patriarch of the Black clan, had raised his son by himself when Phineas’s mother had died when he was six. Though still just a boy, Phineas immediately became a part of his father’s tech prospector crew and spent the rest of his childhood searching the abandoned and decaying ruins of his homeworld for salvageable lostech treasures. His family had done this since the 1st Succession War, when Lucas Black, a survivor of the Kentares Massacre, began scavenging to survive on the now bleak, war ravaged world. Now a Black was going to be a MechWarrior, one of the elite pilots who controlled the awesome power of a BattleMech…
Phineas’s musings were interrupted when the dorm room door burst open to admit his roommate Lyra Elena Sanchez-Martin. Immediately behind her was Oliver Montresor. It was obvious that Lyra was trying to disentangle herself from, and escape Montresor. Apparently the Count of Andorra felt that with graduation just a few days off, the prohibition against cadet fraternization no longer applied.
Though they had been roommates the entire time they had both been at the academy, Phineas had never really figured out how to be comfortable around Lyra. He was shy around girls, especially attractive ones, and she, though they had become friends, was a year older than him and still looked down upon his common heritage. Her family held a Warrior Hold on Emporia and could name a long line of MechWarriors that had served House Davion in the Ceti Hussars.
Montresor pushed his way in, grabbing Lyra’s wrist as she tried to close the door on him. “Come on Lyra, the others are going into town to celebrate. Come with me.â€
Lyra wrenched her arm out of his grasp more forcibly than she had intended. She was loosing her temper. “No! I don’t want to go Oliver! Get out of here!†Her long auburn braid whipped angrily as she shook her head.
The door closed behind Oliver Montresor. Both he and Lyra suddenly realized that Phineas was there standing awkwardly by his bed trying to pretend that he hadn’t witnessed anything. Montresor’s expression went dark. He came over and seized Lyra’s elbow, pointedly turning his back on Phineas and said, “You’re going. You’ll thank me later.†Lyra began to protest as Oliver tugged her towards the door.
Something roused inside Phineas. Women were treated with respect back home and certainly weren’t to be manhandled. Black reached out his hand to grab Montresor’s shoulder, and suddenly felt a fist strike him hard in the nose. He staggered back and fell across the new uniform on his bunk, crushing the box it came in. Looking up with a few stars spinning before his eyes, Phineas saw Oliver Montresor standing over him looking taller than ever. “I bet that taught you your place, eh scavenger?â€
Black rolled off the bed and launched his wiry frame into Montresor, tackling him and sending them both crashing into the closed door and then to the floor. Phineas scrambled up into a defensive crouch while Oliver Montresor slowly got back on his feet, wincing and rubbing the short blond hair on the back of his head. He looked murderously at Black. Before they could do anything else, Lyra interposed herself between them.
“Stop! Both of you! Back off Oliver! Knock it off Phineas!†She glared at both of them. Montresor was livid and unfazed by her intervention. Phineas wore a mixed expression of worry and anger. This wasn’t his first fight with another cadet, but he’d always avoided getting into one with Oliver Montresor because of what it might cost him. Now he might find out and it was unlikely that the academy would overlook his lack of judgment this time; he didn’t have many favors left. “Go Oliver! I’ll meet you all in the main hall. Really,†Lyra said, looking from one to the other.
Oliver Montresor pulled himself erect and pointed a finger at Phineas. “I’m going to finish you once and for all. Got that ghetto rat? Meet me tomorrow at the training grounds pond at 1800 hours. I’ll make sure you can get a ’Mech.†Without another word, Montresor wrenched the door open and stormed out, punctuating with a loud slam.
Lyra sighed and sat down at her desk. “What the hell were you thinking Phineas? You think I can't handle Count Oliver? Do you think I’m some helpless female who can’t take care of herself?! I can toss either of you without breaking a sweat!â€
Phineas knew from painful experience that she wasn’t exaggerating. Lyra was fast, strong and better at hand-to-hand combat than either he, or Montresor. “I know. I just didn’t like what he was doing… You just don’t treat a girl like that.†Lyra’s expression hardened. “Not that you’re weak or anything, it just wasn’t right,†Phineas ended lamely, bringing a hand to his face and realizing his nose was bloody.
Lyra stared incredulously at him until he became uncomfortable, snorted in disbelief, and then walked out of the dorm room. As the door closed behind her Phineas heard her say “Thanks anyway…moron.†Phineas smiled despite his throbbing nose and picked up his graduation uniform from where it had fallen to the floor.
Black’s mind came back to the present. He checked over his status boards again, perhaps for the hundredth time. Everything was green. The reactor was hot, but the Valkyrie was still running cool, even after the kilometer walk from the hanger. Weapons were all charged and loaded, ammo magazine full and jump jets online. His neurohelmet, which allowed a MechWarrior to sense the balance and movement of a BattleMech, was properly adjusted and secure. Black whistled a tuneless song, stopped, checked the tracking motions of the two targeting crosshairs on his Heads-Up-Display and then said, “All right, let’s get this over with.â€
The hovercar reappeared and moved out over the pond. Black could again hear the cadets in it shouting and laughing over his audio sensors. When it reached the middle of the pond, it idled over the water and one of cadets shouted over the megaphone “Are you two ready?â€
“Ready!†boomed Montresor over his Panther’s external speakers as he shifted his ’Mech’s feet and re-aimed his PPC at the Valkyrie. Excitement was obvious in his voice.
“Yeah, ready to go,†stated Black, deadpan. The Val didn’t move an inch, but Phineas’s hand hovered over his jump jet controls.
“Wait! Hold on! Don’t start yet!†came an amplified shout from the hovercar still in the middle of the pond. “You both need to turn around!†said the cadet with the megaphone. “You know, back-to-back so you don’t start off with a target lock.â€
“Come on! We don’t need to do that!†Montresor started to argue.
“Yes you do! This is a duel and we’re going to do it right! Come on… Just do it Oliver!†Black could hear the other cadets in the car voicing their agreement and one sane comment about the lot of them being in the line of fire.
“Fine. You hear that scavenger? Turn around so that your back’s facing the pond.†ordered Montresor.
“After you, my Lord,†Phineas broadcast over his speakers with obvious sarcasm.
With a great deal of hesitation to make sure the other was complying, both BattleMechs slowly turned their backs to the pond, and each other. Black settled the Valkyrie into a slightly hunched stance to allow himself the most movement options possible when the duel began. On his aft screen he saw that Montresor was doing likewise with the Panther. The hovercar was starting to circle in the middle of the pond with increasing speed.
From the hovercar an amplified voice shouted “Get ready, and…FIGHT!†The hovercar shot off at full speed away from the two combatants, speeding towards the dubious safety of a tall hill ridge to the northeast.
Phineas threw the Val into a full, pounding run in the opposite direction, rounding the pond while firing off a snap shot from his Sutel IX Medium Laser. Montresor wrenched the Panther around and sent a blinding bolt of charged subatomic particles from its particle projection cannon burning after the Valkyrie. Both shots missed, spoiled by an intervening stand of trees. Despite being powered down for training, the bolt from the PPC still set alight the leafy canopies of several trees.
Black slowed the Valkyrie into the safety of a thicker section of trees while Montresor jogged the Panther around the pond to the north. They traded weapons fire again, the Panther letting loose with both its PPC and Telos Four-Shot short range missile launcher and the Val firing a blue-white beam from its medium laser again.
Phineas began a whoop of triumph as he tagged the left side of the Panther’s torso with his medium laser, but it caught in his throat when Montresor’s PPC just missed the Valkyrie and scorched the front of a large oak. “Damn, that was close!†The Panther’s SRMs corkscrewed away west, fired without a positive target lock.
Montresor continued his circuit around the pond, using his Panther’s jump jets to clear the wooded copse the hovercar had previously idled near to land close to where Black’s Valkyrie had started the duel.
What does he think, that keeping the pond between us is going to give him an advantage? “Okay, have it your way,†Phineas said to himself.
The Valkyrie burst out of the trees and ran to get optimum range for its Devastator Series-07 long range missile 10 launcher. Black rotated the ’Mech’s torso and fired off a flight of LRMs and a shot from his medium laser for good measure. Montresor replied with his particle projection cannon. The laser and the bolt from the PPC crossed each other over the pond, both missing their targets by a wide margin. Eight of the Val’s long range missiles, however, found their mark. Pink paint eruptions from the LRM training rounds blossomed across the Panther’s right leg and center torso.
Phineas’s comm screen came alive. “You bastard! You ****** bastard!...â€
Phineas cut the signal. He didn’t have time to listen to Montresor’s curses. He had a duel to win. Oliver looked a little hot though, Black thought with a grin. Sweat had been streaming down the young count’s face. His own heat levels were still in the blue; the Valkyrie was a machine that ran cool. Even so, like every MechWarrior in combat, he was dressed lightly to ward off heat – cooling vest, shorts and boots.
Montresor reversed course and sent the Panther crashing through the wooded copse, uprooting trees and undergrowth in his haste to close with Black. He was completely heedless of the dents and scratches he was subjecting the academy ’Mech to.
Weapon Master Rajin is gonna be pissed... thought Phineas as he backed the Valkyrie into another heavy stand of trees at the foot of a steep hill. Calmly he re-acquired a target lock on the Panther and fired his LRMs and medium laser again as Montresor’s PPC bolt left a burn mark on the hill behind him.
The Val’s laser streaked off to disappear somewhere in the trees behind the advancing Panther, but the long range missile launcher failed to fire. Phineas franticly looked over the weapon’s indicators. “No jam, ammo full... What the hell?! Why aren’t my LRMs down ten missiles from my last shot?â€
Then it hit him. “Why that cheating son-of-a-bitch!†Black shouted as he smashed his fist down on the LRM 10’s status board.
He thought back to when he went to the ’Mech hanger to take out the ’Mech Montresor said would be waiting for him; Astech Guthrie had run to meet him right away. The older man had ushered him straight to the Valkyrie, all the while repeating several times that the Val was fully loaded and ready to go. He had acted very nervous, but that had made sense considering his involvement in an unauthorized duel.
I wonder how much extra it had cost Montresor to get Guthrie to rig my one and only LRM shot to read as a full ammo load? Phineas thought blackly.
Montresor’s Panther pounded out onto open ground, continuing its headlong drive to close with Black’s Valkyrie. Phineas’s hand came down on his jump jet controls. “I hope these aren’t sabotaged too.â€
The Val’s Norse Industries 3S jump jets roared to life, sending the ’Mech arcing over the Panther to land behind it. Montresor attempted to twist around to take another shot with the PPC, but the bolt cleanly missed the Valkyrie. Black fired his medium laser at his enemy’s back, but also missed.
Phineas quickly checked his aft screens, tracking the impact point of the PPC bolt. He saw that it had hit the lower slope of the tall hill ridge that the cadets in the hovercar had parked on top of to watch the show. The car’s bright red color stood out on his screen. The idiots were up there still drinking and shouting while he and Montresor were firing off shots that, while powered down and harmless to ’Mechs, could still kill any bystander unlucky enough to get hit by one.
Black’s momentary distraction threw him on the defensive, forcing him to jump again to get out of the Panther’s line of sight. His jets shot his Val into the air, where he twisted his controls to land it on the other side of the woods he had previously vacated.
Anticipating the Valkyrie’s landing spot; Montresor again thrashed his way through intervening trees to bring his Panther face to face with Black’s Val. Both fired simultaneously before the Panther had fully cleared the woods and before the Valkyrie’s feet had impacted the ground. Short range missiles swarmed past Black’s view screen and the particle projection cannon spat out a bolt that withered a long patch of prairie behind the Valkyrie. The medium laser lanced through the tangled branches to the left of the Panther.
(Part 2 continues in the next post.)