16 April 3055

Victor slid himself around on the vinyl seat of the simulator's command couch. The restraining belts held him in place, but his bare flesh was also sticking to the couch. In real combat, of course, he would have been perspiring enough from nerves to slick up his skin. In the simulator he just wasn't as anxious.

He couldn't fault the equipment because the Kell Hounds had invested in the best. The simulator cockpits were mounted within a three-dimensional movement matrix that rested on a bed of hydraulic pistons. Each lumbering step his simulated Daishitook in the virtual-world projected on the screens before his 'Mech's viewports was reflected in the realistic pitch and roll of the cockpit pod. Victor knew, from other exercises, that enemy hits and their effects would be simulated as well.

The simulation also included heaters built into the cockpit to inject heat whenever weapon-firing or other activities would normally create heat buildup in an actual 'Mech. He even wore a special cooling vest that functioned exactly as if he were really piloting his 'Mech, the Prometheus.The coolant snaking its way through the tubes in the vest pulled excess heat away from his body and kept him alive in the cockpit.

I've had little enough use for it so far.Victor watched the holographic projection of the simulated landscape. Off to his left Kai marched Yen-lo-wang, his modified Centurion,across an open meadow toward a low line of hills. On the right and slightly back, Shin Yodama's Griffin watched their back and the flank. As it's been all day-nothing!

Daniel Allard and Morgan Kell, who had come up with the battle scenario, had decided that the sides were not even enough. Both Mark Allard and Galen Cox were using Inner Sphere 'Mech simulations while operating as part of a Clan Star, and Victor was using a Clan-based OmniMech that dwarfed anything in the opposition. By sheer tonnage of war machines on the battlefield, the Clan forces surrendered a four-to-one disadvantage.

Victor knew that tonnage was not entirely indicative of advantage, but he had to concede that the Clans were underpowered. To even up the odds, the Kell Hound leaders suggested that Victor's three-'Mech lance could become the prize. In the new scenario, the Clans would be hunting him on a huge, circular battlefield intended to honor the Clan tradition of the Circle of Equals. The Kell Hound company was there to help Victor get away from the Clans. It made the exercise into an elaborate game of Capture the Flag, but one in which the flag could shoot back.

To further complicate matters, Victor's group could not radio the Kell Hounds because they lacked the proper codes to unscramble the messages from their rescuers. Kai, however, had quickly figured out that by using a simple system resembling the send and break of Morse code, increasing the pace as the Kell Hound signals got stronger, his team could guide them in. He knew that it would pull the Clans in as well, but having everyone together should be Phelan's worst nightmare.

Problem is, Phelan and his folks don't seem to be sleeping badly.As he had the morning before, Phelan arrived bright-eyed and ready to go. He even wore his pistol into the simulator cockpit, giving Captain Moran and her people cause for amusement. Not Victor, though, for the gesture told him Phelan was very serious about the simulation and was treating it exactly as he would a real-world analog.

The Flag group, as Victor had come to think of their trio, had heard a lotof radio static, apparently coming from the Kell Hound company. Though they could make no sense of it, the messages seemed tp be coming quickly while the number of people involved in the conversations slowly began to drop off.

The Flag group had begun to move in the rough direction of the radio transmissions, but things fluctuated too rapidly to be certain they were on the right track. Victor knew that meant the Kell Hounds were involved in a running battle, which should have been good for them. Hit-and-run has been the tacticde jour to use against the Clans. If Phelan's turning it back against us, though, we could be in trouble.

As if the other side had been reading his mind— dammit, only Galen could have set this trap—three 'Mechs moved up over the crest of the hills. The first, a thick, squat Masakarispread its birdlike legs wide to establish a stable footing among the hill's crumbling rocks. The arms ended in twin barrels and the two left-arm PPCs flashed even before Victor could call out a warning to his companions.

The twin bolts of blue lightning crackled through the air. Both hit the Prometheus'right leg, reducing its armor to virtual vapor. A pulse laser in the Masakari'sright arm drilled a series of green bolts into the same limb. That hit ripped away all but the very last bit of armor as far as the computer was concerned.

Victor had a nanosecond to take in how much damage the Masakaripilot's uncanny accuracy had done to his 'Mech. As soon as the computer controlling the exercise determined what that amount of damage meant, Victor felt the cockpit begin to pitch up and to the right. The savage attack had blasted away almost two tons of the ferro-fibrous armor on his 'Mech, unbalancing it severely.

Twisting his body to the left, Victor struggled to keep the 'Mech upright. The computer read the input from his neurohelmet, but even his utmost effort could not defeat the combined forces of physics and gravity. The computer-created landscape blurred into a confused palette outside the Daishi'sviewports, then the cockpit spun and tipped way up. Victor braced himself and groaned as panels in the command couch slammed into his back when his 'Mech crashed to the ground, destroying some armor on its right flank.

Momentarily stunned, Victor could do nothing but watch his holographic display as the two lightest BattleMechs on the field headed after each other. Kai's Yen-lo-wang turned toward the slender Clan 'Mech that looked like a mechanical avatar of the ancient Egyptian god Anubis. Victor knew without a doubt that Phelan was the Wolfhound'spilot.

The Centurionstruck first. Its right arm came up, its Gauss cannon spitting out a silver projectile amid a brilliant flash of energy. Streaking up the line of the hills, the ball hit the Wolfhoundin the left chest. The 'Mech dropped armor like a snake shedding skin, leaving the ferro-titanium skeleton open to view. Victor saw a puff of smoke curl up out of the gash and the Wolfhound staggered a bit. Lost a medium laser and maybe took engine damage! Way to go, Kai!

The twin lasers mounted beneath the left arm also assaulted the Wolfhound,their hail of red energy darts shredding the armor on the other side of the 'Mech's chest. The skeleton beneath the lost armor glowed red and the Wolfhoundagain appeared to shudder, but Phelan managed to keep it upright despite the vicious pounding.

Then the Wolfhoundbit back with a vengeance. The large laser that made up most of its right arm sent a green spear of coherent light into the Centurion'sright arm. Armor fragments rained down over the simulated hillsides, starting little brushfires. The three, pulse lasers mounted in the Wolfhound'schest focused their fire on that same limb. The first burned through the rest of the armor and the others stitched fire up and down the arm. Myomer muscles snapped apart and the ferro-titanium bones glowed white-hot before they melted away.

More important, the lasers blasted into the Gauss cannon's mechanism. The capacitors exploded, shredding the armor on the right side of the Centurion'schest. The 'Mech's internal structure looked warped and twisted by the explosion. The round silver balls that the 'Mech used as ammo for the Gauss cannon spilled out, bouncing off the 'Mech's right thigh, to roll down the hill.