Suddenly the earth shuddered beneath the Lone Wolf'sfeet. Dust and pebbles rattled into the cockpit as a silver ball gouged a divot from the embankment that hid Phelan. A scarlet energy beam sliced through the air right behind it, but neither attack did any damage to the Lone Wolf.

"He's figuring out what I've learned about his 'Mech. He may be a son of a bitch, but he's not stupid." For a half second, Phelan wondered idly why he hadn't stayed a bondsman. Anger at himself chased the thought from his mind. You're a warrior, that's why. Now be smart, hit hard, and run.

Twice more Phelan managed to use the terrain and his superior mobility to snipe at the Executioner.By circling, he managed to keep the right side of Vlad's 'Mech in his sights. The missiles scoured armor from the 'Mech's right leg, torso, and arm, leaving them covered with the tattered remnants of ferro-fibrous plating. But the Gauss rifle did the most critical damage. It punched through the weakened armor on the Executioner'sright breast, destroying the laser. The larger laser dropped down to crush one of the pulse lasers.

As dark smoke poured from the hole in the Executioner'schest, Phelan leaped his 'Mech up onto the ridge line he'd been using for cover to bring his autocannon into play. Vlad turned his 'Mech to meet Phelan head-on. Without a second's hesitation, all weapons oriented on their targets. At 200 meters, the two warriors let everything fly.

Phelan's paired flights of missiles shot from the Lone Wolf'sshoulders, drawing gray contrail lines in the air. Missiles chipped away at the armor over the Executioner'sheart and blasted armor from its right leg. More missiles poured through the hole in its right side and yet others chopped into the armor at the 'Mech's left shoulder.

Bracketed by the missile tracks, the trio of pulse lasers found their target easily. One drilled a hole through the Executioner'sright arm, evaporating its last armor. The second sent a stream of molten ceramic coursing down the 'Mech's left leg. The last blasted a staggered line of holes down the 'Mech's face in a crude parody of Vlad's own scar.

Phelan's autocannon tracked poorly and ripped away all but the last bit of armor on the Executioner'sright leg. The Gauss rifle's argent sphere pulverized the armor on the 'Mech's left arm, sending jagged sheets of it to the sand. Though the fire laid much of the arm bare, it did not destroy the Executioner'sown Gauss rifle.

Vlad's return fire rattled and shook the Lone Wolf,leaving Phelan feeling like a rock being shaken in a tin can. The first Gauss rifle slug blasted into the Lone Wolf'sleft arm, snapping the limb off at the elbow and spinning the 'Mech to the left. Phelan's Gauss rifle careened off to explode down in the trench he'd previously used for cover.

With his altered priorities in place, the Executioner'sbattle computer cycled through his lasers before it got to his remaining Gauss rifle. The pulse laser in the shattered right breast stitched a half-dozen steaming holes in the Lone Wolf'sright leg. The other two pulse lasers both melted a deep hole in Phelan's right flank. The Executioner'slarge laser lanced its red beam through the left side of the Lone Wolf'schest as Phelan brought his machine back under control and turned it to face Vlad.

The Executioner'sright-arm Gauss rifle spat out a hunk of metal about thirty centimeters in diameter. Nothing more than a silver blur, it shot straight into the middle of the Lone Wolf'schest. Phelan's teeth smashed together as the whole torso pitched up, jamming him down into the command couch. Vlad disappeared from view as the empty canopy filled with a vision of the cloudless blue sky. Phelan clawed at the arms of his command couch and tried to step back to steady the 'Mech, but the ridge offered him no footing.

For a time that felt like forever, he knew the horror of freefall in a BattleMech.

The Lone Wolfhit the ground with all the grace and gentleness of a huge rock. The abrupt landing smashed Phelan down into the command couch and whipped his head back against a cockpit reinforcement. His neurohelmet prevented his brains from being spattered all over, but he still saw stars. His left arm jammed its elbow against the edge of a console, numbing it to the wrist. He bit his tongue, tasting blood from that and from where the neurohelmet mashed his lips against his teeth.

Sparks flew through the cockpit as monitors and control panels shorted out. Warning klaxons blared, then were choked off by a pop and a puff of smoke. Pouring in through the skeletal remains of the cockpit canopy structure, dirt and stones ricocheted off broken equipment and Phelan's battered body. One large piece cracked the viewport on his helmet as it bounced off to the back of the cockpit.

Then he heard nothing except the rattle of debris and the steady whispered rumble of the fusion engine. His left arm felt on fire as feeling returned to it, but a visual inspection showed only a small cut on the forearm. He brushed away the dirt that had pooled at his throat and started to unbuckle himself from the ruined 'Mech.

What stopped him was a bizarre and terrifying sound from outside. Thud, scrape, thud, scrape, it reverberated powerfully through the ground and into his 'Mech. To Phelan, it was the noise made by the deranged, one-legged maniac that haunted scary stories he'd heard as a child. As quickly as he clubbed that childhood fear down, another more insistent horror rose in his heart. That's Vlad. He's coming for me.

Phelan moved instantly to action. Working the right joystick around and pushing the 'Mech's foot pedals, he found power still going to his 'Mech's limbs. The total absence of monitors meant he had no idea whether any of his weapons were still operational. Without his battle array, he could only guess if a weapon was on target, but he knew that a 'Mech at point-blank range would be very hard to miss.

That's a point Vlad won't overlook.

Using his 'Mech's right arm, he pushed off against the ground. The Lone Wolfstarted to move toward the right, but caught only after a shift of a few degrees. Phelen pushed harder, but heard armor panels buckling, so he stopped. As he relieved the pressure on his right arm, the Lone Wolfsank back to its original position.

Despair clutched at his heart. I'm wedged in tight. I've got no weapons. There's nothing I can do. I'm going to die!

From somewhere deep inside, he heard a voice that could only be his own. If you're going to die, Phelan Kell, you'll die a man.

He clenched his jaw and swallowed hard. Working his left arm around to ease its numbness, he waited.

Thud, scrape, thud, scrape. His pulse matched itself to the thunderous cadence of Vlad's approach. A thousand different plans for escape flashed through Phelan's mind and were rejected. He knew he couldn't run because Vlad would gladly hunt him down and kill him whether he were in a 'Mech or not. Calling out to Natasha would do no good. As nearly as he could tell, his radio was out, and during the test, it would be jammed anyway.

Vlad did not keep him waiting long. The Executionerpulled itself up onto the ridge and stared down at the Lone Wolf.From shoulder to foot, the entire right side of the 'Mech's body had been stripped of armor. Impact craters and laser burns dotted the rest of the 'Mech's hide like disease sores. Smoke drifted from the ruined half of its chest and hung over the body like a wispy cloak.

Vlad's laughter echoed from the Executioner'sexternal speakers. "So this is how it ends? I would have expected more of a fight from a warrioras great as you."

Phelan flicked open his helmet's face plate. "If you were any sort of opponent, I might have really put my best effort into it."