Justin continued to circle his Vindicatorto the right, then stopped and pivoted on his left foot to swing around and lunge at the Hermeswith his PPC. His right index finger tightened up on the trigger, and his middle finger jerked the trigger for his medium laser. The heat monitors in the cockpit blazed up from green into the red zone, but Justin ignored the computer's keening complaint about excess heat. The Hermes,moving in, strolled directly into his fire zone.

The laser stitched a stuttering line across the Hermes'seyes, and the 'Mech jerked as Wolfson reacted to the blinding scarlet light. The beam itself did little more than melt an outer layer of the pilot's canopy, but the shot distracted Wolfson from the need to turn and face the Vindicator'sattack.

An azure whip of pure energy lashed out at the Hermes.The PPC's beam stabbed at the Hermes'sleft arm and ripped armor from the flamer with the ease of a cyclone tearing shingles from a roof. The beam caressed the Hermesfor less than three terrible seconds, but that was enough to strip all but the barest of armor from the smaller 'Mech's fearsome weapon. Suddenly, the flamethrower became a bomb strapped to the side of the Hermes,and Wolfson's quick turn showed that he realized the outcome of the fight was not fixed, after all.

As Justin's Vindicatormoved toward the Hermes,Wolfson brought his 'Mech's right arm up and triggered a blast of laser fire to hold him back. The ruby energy beam bubbled ablative armor on the Vindicator'storso, but failed to penetrate further into the 'Mech's working parts. When it did nothing to slow the Vindicator'sadvance, Wolfson began to sprint his 'Mech off across the arena.

Justin hit his jump jets and launched a flight of LRMs, aiming the missiles deliberately wide and to the right of the Hermes.They exploded in a line of flaming geysers that brought the Hermesup short while the Vindicatorsoared above it and almost grazed the arena's mesh roof. Justin grounded the Vindicatorto the left of the Hermes. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, Wolfson.

Sweat poured down Justin's face and tasted salty on his lips. Ahead of him, the Hermesturned. Its medium laser fired a red bolt of energy, while its autocannon boomed out a staccato accompaniment to the rain of metal it spat out. The autocannon slugs plucked away at the armor on the Vindicator'sleft leg and dotted it with jagged gashes. The laser drilled into the armor on the Vindicator'scenter torso and burned away the last of it. Enough of the laser fire had penetrated the armor to burn into the heart of the Vindicator.

Justin cursed as a red light ignited on his control board. The last of the laser's energy had damaged his 'Mech's gyro-stabilizer and would force him to concentrate more on each little motion or get spilled to the ground. He slapped the heat override control and sneered. This ends now.

Missiles arched from the Vindicatorand smashed into the Hermes'sright side. The missiles exploded into brilliant orange fire-balls, and the Hermesstaggered as armor plates ripped free.

Before the Hermescould recover, the blue whiplash of Justin's PPC scourged the newly opened wound. What little armor the missiles had spared, the particle beam evaporated into a metal steam.

Melted slag coursed down the Hermes'sfront, but the beam had failed to bore into the 'Mech's internal structures.

The Vindicator'slaser flashed to life and stabbed into the other 'Mech's left arm. It vaporized the remaining armor and shredded the flamethrower's mechanisms. The beam sliced up into the Hermes'sarmpit and baked the shoulder actuator. The left arm, locked in a slightly forward position, smoldered and began to leak flamer fuel.

Justin cleared a tightbeam channel to his opponent, "Wolfson, your flamer's leaking. Bail out now."

Justin could almost feel the fear coming through the radio link, but Wolfson's words belied it, "Can't. Got a 100,000 credit bond against surrender. You ain't getting that from me."

Justin shook his head and droplets of sweat ran down his neurohelmet's viewplate. "Dammit, you idiot! I don't want it. Get out!"

"Go to hell, you Capellan bastard!" The Hermesraised its right arm. The laser and the autocannon both came to life as Wolfson attempted the impossible feat of exchanging shots with a 'Mech that outgunned him. The laser cut flecks of armor from the Vindicator'sPPC, and the autocannon shredded the armor on the 'Mech's right leg, but neither shot did enough damage to take the Vindicatordown.

Justin's flight of missiles sent three explosive charges into the Hermes'sright leg, blasting twisted sheets of armor from the thigh. The laser burned into the same limb, excising even greater hunks of armor from the thigh. Neither attack damaged the limb, but that hardly mattered as the PPC flared to life.

The PPCs azure beam drilled through the melted armor on the Hermes'sright breast. As the artificial lightning bolt ate into the 'Mech, blue fire burst from the muzzle of the Hermes'sautocannon, and a dull explosion belched a black column of smoke from the hole in the 'Mech's chest. Sparks flashed within the oily haze and the Hermesseemed to fold in upon itself.

Suddenly, Wolfson jerked his 'Mech upright and charged. As the Hermeslurched forward, it accelerated to 97 kph, living up to its name. Wolfson held the 'Mech's right arm wide, and came in for a tackle. His laser flared to life at the last second, but the beam cut wide of its intended mark.

Justin's Vindicatorducked under the Hermes'soutstretched arm and buried its left fist into the other 'Mech's flank. The giant analog of Justin's own metal hand crushed internal circuitry and came away with wires and the autocannon's ammo chain trailing on it. His medium laser, hastily aimed, sawed yet more armor from the Hermes'sright thigh.

Wolfson spun his Hermeson its right foot and tried to kick back at the Vindicatorwith its left leg. He failed because Justin's punch to the Hermes'smiddle had crushed part of the gyro housing. The Hermesmerely spun to the ground. It landed hard on its left shoulder and ruptured the flamer fuel tanks. Even as the wounded 'Mech settled onto its back, the viscous liquid washed over its torso.

The small laser on the Vindicator'sleft arm struck like a neon-scarlet viper. The coruscating energy stream ignited the flamer fuel, sending a huge white-yellow tongue of flame licking up at the arena's roof. The fire snapped and crackled in Justin's ears, but did nothing to mask the screams and applause of the spectators.

The Hermes'sfaceplate blew upward. Wolfson hit his eject button and his command chair exploded out of his 'Mech's head, spinning up into the conflagration. Almost instantly, the chair's gyros kicked in the escape rockets and jetted the chair out of the danger zone. Singed and smoking, Wolfson's chair landed at the Vindicator'sfeet.

The Vindicatorsquatted over the ejected pilot. Wolfson scrambled to free himself of the command chair, but the Vindicatordropped its hand over the chair and encased it in a cage of fingers. Within his cockpit, Justin reached out his right hand to dial his directional mike in at Wolfson.

"The next time you call me bastard, little man, you'd better win, because otherwise I'll kill you for it."

19

Solaris VII (The Game World)

Rahneshire, Lyran Commonwealth

20 February 3027