Missiles dotted the Blackjack'shead, chest, and left flank with computer-animated fireballs. The large laser swept across the top of the 'Mech's left thigh like a surgeon's scalpel, leaving a deep, nasty scar in the computer's image. The Gauss rifle's phantom projectile streaked across the landscape and smashed the Blackjacksquarely in the knee. The impact shivered most of the armor from that leg and dumped the Blackjackto the ground.

Kai darted his Daishiforward twenty meters and off to the right, anticipating his foes' plan for him to retreat. The twin flights of missiles from the Archerovershot him by that margin. The particle beam from the BattleMaster'spistol-like particle projection cannon burned wide, bringing a smile to Kai's face. If I can keep you guys guessing ...

Suddenly, missile detonations wreathed the BattleMaster'sarms in fire. "You idiot, Sun-Tzu, you hit the wrong target!" Kai glanced at the secondary monitor updating the BattleMaster'sdamage, but took no satisfaction at the report. "Stupid accident and now whatever gets past him comes after me. Why did I have to be paired with him?"

Though the battle had been going on for only a few seconds, everything suddenly stopped as a ring of fire blossomed around Sun-Tzu's canopy. The duraplast viewport blew out and away as the explosive bolts detonated. An intense light flashed to life from within the dark cockpit, then Sun-Tzu's command couch rode a rocket into the sky. Without even slowing, the couch shot over the line of hills beyond the enemy 'Mechs and disappeared from view.

It took several seconds before Kai counsciously registered what Sun-Tzu had done. The Capellan had not accidentally targeted the BattleMaster.He had selected it most carefully and deliberately. In shooting it, he had guaranteed that all the enemy 'Mechs—a full half-dozen of them—could attack either or both the young Mech Warriors. Having ensured that the battle would become a chaotic fray, he then punched out to leave his hated cousin alone.

Part of Kai wanted to cry out that the test was no longer fair, then thought how the men he had sent against Elementals on Twycross must have cursed him the same way he wanted to curse Sun-Tzu. They had no choice. Neither do you.

That cold truth settled around him like a burdensome cloak, but he took his hopelessness and hatred and wove them into fury. Instead of that hollow feeling at his core, he felt a furnace of emotions. With his mind clear, Kai took up the gauntlet Sun-Tzu had hurled at him.

He again targeted the stricken Blackjack.With help from the BattleMaster,it had begun to regain its feet, but five missiles and the brilliant scarlet beam of Kai's large laser chopped off its right leg at the knee. Meanwhile, the Gauss rifle's silver slug pounded its way through the armor on the 'Mech's left flank and crushed the left side of its torso. The 'Mech twisted in the BattleMaster'sgrip, then flopped to the ground.

Kai kicked the Daishiinto high gear, cutting back to the left. He turned sharply, presenting his back to the Archer.It cut loose with two score LRMs and delivered over half of them on target, blasting armor from the Daishi'shead, back, right flank, and right arm. The computer, simulating the damage, threw the gyro out of phase for several seconds, but Kai fought the controls and managed to keep the loping Daishiupright.

Before the Archercould fire again, Kai put a hill between him and the enemy task force. A quick review of the damage to his armor revealed about half the rear armor blown off, but he dismissed that problem almost immediately. If I let anyone into my aft arc, I deserve to die. Damn you, Sun-Tzu. There's got to be something I can do.

Communications.He knew the Dragoons jammed radio broadcasts during the tests, but he wondered if they would lift the jamming now that Kai was alone. He switched his radio over to the tactical frequency the other trainees had used to communicate before the battle. A bone-twisting squeal ripped through the neurohelmet's speakers at first, then died abruptly.

He smiled as he brought the Daishito the end of a small valley and cut back north toward his enemies. Kai quickly punched up a frequency command for the computer and sent out a standard code. If they're not jamming everything, maybe this will work.He hit the Enter key, then crossed his fingers for luck.

The secondary monitor flashed twice, blanking the outline of the Blackjack,and replacing it with geological survey satellite feed of data from seismic sensors in the area. Kai magnified the image several times until he got an area roughly two kilometers in diameter, centered on himself. He ordered the computer to sort for and pinpoint areas of seismic activity, then set the threshold at .01 on the Richter scale. He laughed out loud when the computer painted six squares on the screen and appended their Richter ratings to them.

He continued to work his way north. As nearly as he could work out from Richter ratings, the BattleMasterand one of Sun's opponents had headed directly out after him. The remaining two of Sun's foes had come in slowly, but they appeared more interested in using Sun's 'Mech as cover against any southwestern approach by Kai than in hunting him. The BattleMasterand its wingman headed west once they passed through the low hills, obviously seeking to drive him north.

The Archerappeared to be moving very little. As a result, its icon kept vanishing from the screen. Kai knew, both from the parting shot that had hit him and the way that warrior waited, that the pilot in that machine was cagey. That worried him because he knew the only way he would survive was by his enemies getting so cocky that they came at him using no strategy at all.

I wish I knew the access codes to some of Wolf's spy satellites. Rather have the feed from those than from this rockhound bird.Kai narrowed his eyes and took one last look at the weather report. "It's now or never," he told himself. "Last stand, part one."

Cutting east, he brought the Daishiup over a ridge line a little more than 250 meters from the Archerand almost twice that from Sun-Tzu's abandoned 'Mech. Standing on either side of it were 'Mechs Kai identified as a Marauder II—the bigger, nastier brother of one of the deadliest BattleMechs ever made—and a Thunderbolt.The Maraudershared the Daishi'shunched frame, and clawlike weapon pods capped its skinny arms. The flight stabilizers marked it as jump-capable, but made it look no more graceful than its companion.

A desperate scheme popped into Kai's brain, and after a nanosecond's study of the primary monitor and its readout on his 'Mech, he decided to take the gamble. Even as the Archertwisted left and launched two missile flights, Kai brought his weapons to bear on the empty husk of Sun-Tzu's Daishi."You're supposed to be a big killer, well, do it!"

The Archer'smissiles hammered the Daishimercilessly. Red highlights dotted the right flank of his computer outline like spots on a leopard's pelt. The computer informed him of 40 percent reduced armor on his right arm, and a bloody circle showed where missiles had also destroyed armor on the 'Mech's foot. It again threw the gyro out of phase, but Kai wrestled the Daishiupright after a stumble and kept his weapons on their mark.

The missiles from Kai's LRM launcher chipped armor from each flank. The large laser in his right arm melted more of the same on the 'Mech's right side. Having bracketed his true target, Kai corrected his aim by a millimeter for the left crosshairs, got a target lock pulse, then punched the thumb button and uttered a short prayer.