He burst through the shroud of debris kicked up by his opponent and identified Dale’s ’Mech. Dale piloted a fifty-ton Enforcer III armed with a BlazeFire ER Large Laser, a ChisComp 2000 ER Small Laser, and an Imperator Automatic Ultra AC/10 Autocannon. No rockets. The Enforcer rivaled Austin’s ’Mech in class, speed, and maneuverability. They were well matched, but the deciding factor in combat might be the Enforcer’s jump jets.

Austin had to hammer away at the other BattleMech with his LRMs to keep it from bringing its heavier lasers to bear accurately. Without a stable platform, the inertial guidance and tracking for the lasers degraded. That was the easiest shortcoming to exploit in the Federated Hunter targeting and tracking system.

He fired another barrage of ten LRMs at the chest of the Enforcer, hoping the shock would further shake up Dale. Armor shattered off in a cascade that made his IR display useless. Austin changed to visual, brought the targeting reticule to the Enforcer, and fired again. He was rewarded with even greater loss of armor. This salvo wouldn’t penetrate the StarGuard CIV armor, but Austin wanted to keep Dale from using his McCloud Special Jump Jets. Using them, Dale could dodge and dart through the slag mounds and turn a toe-to-toe fight into hide-and-seek.

Austin fired his forward laser again. His heart skipped a beat when red lights winked on across his control panel and new warning alarms sounded. His forward laser wasn’t recharging.

That worried Austin just enough to cause him to hesitate.

This wavering allowed the Enforcer to grind about and open up with its BlazeFire laser. Austin involuntarily threw up his arm to protect his face, although the searing blast never reached the cockpit. It did destroy part of his Corean-B Tech targeting and tracking system. He lost fully half his displays in that single attack. A quick status check showed he had also been stripped of a considerable amount of armor on his right leg.

Austin turned the Centurion about to bring into play undamaged tracking elements. He saw the Enforcer lifting its right arm, saw bright flashes as the autocannon fired, and then staggered when the heavy slugs hammered into his ’Mech. Alarms rang as the depleted-uranium shells ripped away even more of his metallic flesh, leaving part of the metal skeleton exposed on his right leg. He twisted about, lost sight of the Enforcer, then kept pivoting to avoid the punishment from the autocannon and to get the other BattleMech in his sights again. As the Enforcer swung past on his targeting screen, he launched a salvo of LRMs.

He didn’t have to scan his sketchy readouts to know that he had missed.

Austin had no choice now. He cut to his left and kicked the Centurion into full speed. Glowing, ionized air all around his ’Mech registered on his instruments, but his outer temperature didn’t surge. Dale was firing and missing.

Good, Austin thought. Let him waste his energy and ammo.

The mapping he had done earlier aided him now. Mostly blind to the front because of the damage his sensors had sustained, Austin let the navigation computer guide him back through the hillocks and small mountains of dark slag as he kept a lookout to the rear. He had lost contact with the Enforcer but knew only too well who was hunter and who was prey now. Austin had gained a small edge with his preemptive attack and had lost it through damage and the difference in ’Mech characteristics. The Enforcer, with its jump jets, could get into the attack faster. Worse than this, Dale was more skilled with long-range weaponry. If Austin wanted to bring down Dale’s ’Mech, he had to engage with not only his missiles but also his autocannon and medium laser.

The coolant vest began to sizzle and hiss around him. Austin noticed it only when he slowed the Centurion and started a complete damage tally. Whether Dale’s laser shot had impaired the cooling system or the Centurion’s system had failed on its own hardly mattered. Heat began building in the cockpit. Fast.

If he didn’t take out the Enforcer soon, he would roast in his own BattleMech.

Austin stopped, then bent slightly at the waist to present as small a target as he could. He swiveled about and took in as much as he could with his undamaged peripheral sensors. Although his tracking readout didn’t show it, he knew Dale was on his six. The Enforcer stalked him, waiting for the perfect shot that would disable him. Dale wouldn’t go for the kill. He would humiliate first by immobilizing the Centurion and then coming over to place a heavy metal foot on the toppled carcass while trumpeting his victory on all broadcast frequencies.

Better to be destroyed than to endure such disgrace.

Austin’s mind raced. He felt sweat tickling at the edges of his neurohelmet and running down his chest. Panic now and he would lose. Austin had rushed Dale and gained a small advantage earlier. Dale would expect him to go lick his wounds now.

Austin repeated his earlier audacity. Feet working the pedals, he swung the Centurion around, watching for the Enforcer.

You expected to catch me from behind, Austin thought when he saw the Enforcer approaching fast. Teeth clenched with determination, Austin fired another decade of missiles directly into the ground in front of Dale, sending up fresh sprays of debris. The curtain of hot cinders twisted crazily in the dying sunlight and worked to dissipate any laser beam coming his way. He didn’t know for certain if Dale was even shooting at him.

Austin’s chancy tactic worked. The missiles had ripped open a hole in front of the Enforcer, and Dale had blundered into it. Austin checked his earlier mapping and saw that his foe had fallen into a tunnel ten meters underground.

Which way will you run? he wondered. Austin knew Dale wouldn’t pop back up into another barrage. He would use the tunnel to shift position and return to the surface some distance away before renewing his attack.

Austin followed the Enforcer’s heavy seismic thumping as it moved to his right. Kicking the Centurion to a ground-devouring stride, Austin gauged distances and fired another salvo ahead of Dale, hoping to collapse the tunnel roof on the Enforcer.

He kept up his relentless advance even after he saw his LRMs had led Dale too much. A new hole to the surface opened where the missiles exploded, but the rest of the tunnel was blocked. Austin readied his weapons. He would get one perfect shot and no more.

Jump jets flaring, the Enforcer lifted from the hole. Austin fired with all he had. Missiles crashed into the other ’Mech, but Dale had not been caught unawares. He jumped upward, all weapons blazing.

As if it were his own arm, Austin screamed when a laser slashed through his ’Mech’s right arm and took off the autocannon, the detonating rounds in the weapon adding to the fiery hell. Worse, his forward laser winked once with its deadly pure-light lance, but the second shot was delivered with diminished power. The forward laser refused to recharge.

Sensing the weakness in his opponent, Dale came in for the kill. Austin rocked him again with another salvo of rockets, then had even this offense stripped from him by Dale’s accurate laser fire. The launcher erupted, rocking him and destroying most of his torso.

No autocannon, forward laser damaged, missiles not responding as he tried to launch them—Austin was a sitting duck. His HUD showed the Enforcer advancing, but its lasers fired wildly, most shots going astray. Austin’s fierce attack had damaged the Enforcer’s targeting system but had done nothing to deny Dale of the lasers’ power. It was only a matter of time before one laser blast hit a vulnerable target.