"A mistake, Phelan. I regret that I cannot offer you the luxury of learning from it. I would have let you live to wallow in your dismal failure, but I have not been given that choice." The Executioner'sleft arm swung its Gauss rifle muzzle in line with Phelan's cockpit. "You embarrassed Conal in the Grand Council and he has demanded your death."

Phelan snorted contemptuously. "If you had the balls God gave a sand flea, you'd come down here and slit my throat."

"Fortunately, Phelan, I have the brains God gave a man and I remember you wear a gun in the cockpit. Nice try."

"A warrior's got to try."

"A fitting epitaph. Too bad's it's too long to inscribe on the thimble they'll use for your remains. Farewell, Phelan."

Phelan swept his 'Mech's right aim up and dropped the boxy weapon pod down to cover his open cockpit. At the same time, he stabbed both command couch foot pedals to the floor.

The Lone Wolf'sright arm slammed back into the cockpit like a hammer. The canopy skeleton shattered and raked jagged pieces of metal through the cockpit. One sliced through the surface of Phelan's cooling vent, instantly filling the air with the acrid scent of 'Mech coolant. Fist-sized hunks of armor rained down from the weapon, their jagged edges nicking and cutting Phelan's arms and legs.

Once armor fragments stopped clattering around in the cockpit, the only sound in the eerie quiet was the bass undertone of the fusion engine. Vlad did not curse him or taunt him. He heard no sound of Vlad's 'Mech limping to another position. Could my kicking out with my feet have shaken the ground enough to knock him down?

Phelan peeled the Lone Wolf'sarm away from its face. Pressing the limb to the ground, he pushed off again and the OmniMech seemed to move much more freely. He rolled it over to the left, then gathered his feet under him. Slowly and cautiously, he raised the 'Mech to its full height and looked out over the edge of the trench.

The Executionerlay on its face. Still-glowing stumps and the bubbling burning ends of myomer muscles were all that remained of its right arm and right leg. The hole in the right side of the 'Mech's torso had expanded all the way to the midline and beyond. From it, Phelan saw a thick cloud of gray smoke, and the scent told him the Executioner's,gyro had been reduced to scrap.

Static crackled through the speakers in his neurohelmet, followed quickly by Natasha's nervously giddy laughter. "It's official, Phelan. The exam is over. Thanks for opening up Vlad for me and keeping him busy so I could line up that long shot."

Phelan shuddered. "Yeah, well, entertaining Vlad seems to be a specialty of mine." He felt blood trickle down from a scratch on his right arm. "I'm just glad you came along when you did."

"Why, Phelan Wolf, I think you're the first person outside the Dragoons ever to say that to me."

"And no one ever meant it more, I can assure you." Phelan's Lone Wolfslowly scaled the side of the trench. "I'm happy you got your quartet of 'Mechs, but I hope you'll understand if I never want to do this again."

20

Tetsuhara Proving Grounds, Outreach

Sarna March, Federated Commonwealth

22 July 3051

Kai Allard wiped his sweaty palms against his cooling vest. "I copy, Victor. I appreciate your advice. Heaven knows I can't hope to do as well out there as you did."

Victor's voice made it through the speakers full of confidence. "Kai, Hohiro smoked my mark, so I know you can do better. I'm counting on it. The honor of the Federated Commonwealth rests on your shoulders."

Kai shivered. "You had it easy. Shin was your wingman. I've got Sun-Tzu out here, which means I've got four people hunting me."

"He'll have his hands full with the crew they've arrayed against him. As long as you don't shoot any of his targets, his folks will leave you alone and yours will leave him alone. Remember, you've got an Omni and they're just running normal 'Mechs. You'll dust them in no time."

"Don't waste your money betting on me."

"Can't," Victor laughed. "No one will give me good odds."

Another voice, one Kai instandy recognized as that of Jaime Wolf, cut into the channel. "Sun-Tzu Liao and Kai Allard-Liao, this is your time of testing. Though all energy weapons are powered down and, projectiles are phantom rounds, damage will be assessed at full value by the computers monitoring the exercise. Still, caution is important because the 'Mechs are subject to damage. Fall off a mesa and land on your cockpit and you'll be as dead as you would be from a head shot in a battle. Do you understand?"

"Roger, Colonel." Kai heard the echoes of Sun-Tzu's reply a moment later.

"Your mission is to defeat the foes arrayed against you. You may cooperate, but radio communication will be jammed for both sides of the battle. You may shoot at enemies not assigned to you, but that frees your foes to pursue your ally and vice versa. These exercises are usually complicated enough that such additional confusion is not necessary. You will be ranked according to the number of foes you destroy and the amount of damage you do. Good luck. The exercise will commence in thirty seconds."

Kai took one last glance at his primary monitor. It reported all weapon systems operational, and Kai smiled at the array he had been given. The LRMs, the extended range large laser, and the Gauss rifle would all hit at longer ranges, letting him pick apart enemies working in closer. At closer range, his heavy autocannon and battery of pulse lasers would do some serious damage. This Daishi,whose name meant Great Death, looked like it would live up to its name.

Across the battlefield, he saw a frightening group of enemy 'Mechs. Allotted to him were an Archer,a Blackjack,and a BattleMaster.He evaluated the 'Mechs in terms of threat and formulated his plan of action. The Blackjack,he knew, had the lightest armor. A concentrated assault in the form of missiles, large laser, and Gauss rifle could take it out of battle almost instantly. The Archer,with two batteries of LRMs, was built for long-range combat, which meant he'd have to close with it or duke it out at a distance.

The BattleMaster,Kai decided, should be his second target. An assault 'Mech, it was heavily armored yet somewhat under-gunned, especially for a long-range duel. Hitting it early would mean that Kai had a better chance of having all his weapons available to attack it. If he ended up closing with the Archerlast, he could use his close-in weapons to deal with it.

He glanced over at the other Daishistanding 250 meters to his left. Like his 'Mech, the blocky war machine stood on back-canted legs. Its stubby, cylindrical arms ended in weapon muzzles, a Gauss rifle left and large laser right. The autocannon rode high on the left shoulder, and opposite it, the hulking LRM launch mechanism rose like a hump on its right shoulder. The trio of pulse lasers were mounted just below the Daishi'schin on the right side of its chest.

Kai snorted grimly as he noted Sun-Tzu had his weapons pointed at the enemies they faced. The second he learned of his pairing in the exercise, Kai vowed to stay away from Sun-Tzu. Even if one of Sun's foes presented Kai a clean backshot, he had decided not to take it. I don't care what it could do for my score. If I do anything to interfere with his performance, I'll never hear the end of it.

The digital display flashed down to 00:00, and Kai's combat display came up. Instantly, he dropped the crosshairs for his weapons onto the outline of the Blackjack.His right thumb punched the button on top of the right joystick, launching a full flight of twenty missiles at the 'Mech. His left hand hit the thumb button and firing button under his index finger, bringing the Gauss rifle and larger laser into play.