Chapter 5 – First Blood

 

Two weeks after ordering his Mick, L’Cor was piloting his Mick through the deserted streets of Old Neomar.  During the two weeks, he had definitely not been idle.  After placing his order, his next order of business had been to find a place to live.  With the funds left to him, that meant renting a cheap apartment in the slums of New Neomar.  L’Cor hadn’t minded too much.  He’d lived in much worse during the war.  As for worldly possessions, he didn’t have much.  He carried R’Tus’s AV journal with him at all times, and everything he owned was considered replaceable.  If fact, he hardly spent any time in his apartment at all.  For the first week, L’Cor had spent as much time as possible in Abin Town, a small entertainment district in New Neomar.  L’Cor wasn’t too interested in the various entertainment possibilities in Abin Town.  In fact, he only went for the Mick simulators.  For a few credits, he could lock himself up in a metal and plastic sphere and teach himself how to pilot a Mick.  For the first few days, the spectators around him had laughed long and hard at his expense over his clumsy antics.  However, after a few days, he eventually got the hang of the controls and the spectators stopped laughing so hard.

 

A week after he had ordered his Mick, L’Cor went back to Ivan’s shop and checked out his newly assembled Phantom Crash.  He also put down a one-month garage fee to Ivan for housing his Mick.  The advantage for L’Cor – other than having a secure place to store his Mick that is – is that Ivan had a large plot of empty land where he could practice handling Phantom Crash.  For about one hundred credits a pop, he could have computerized drones run around the land for target practice.  L’Cor had noticed a few times that Yoko Ana had come by to see him practice but he had ignored her presence.

 

Now, in his first ever game, L’Cor struggled against his nervousness.  The controls in Phantom Crash were not all that difficult.  It just took some getting used to.  In a MAAC, the neural suit provided a quick control system that ensured fast response times between pilot and machine.  In a Mick, L’Cor had to rely on manual controls for everything.  L’Cor could have chosen to automate some of his controls, the way many newbie pilots did, but L’Cor didn’t want to be caught in a situation that his pre-programmed commands could not get him out of.

 

The foot pedals controlled the leg movement of the Mick.  Alternating pressure on the foot pedals made the Mick walk forward.  One of the buttons on his left hand control switched the Mick into reverse.  If L’Cor dug in both heels and lifted his toes up, the rollers on the legs of the Mick came down, allowing L’Cor to zip down streets.  If L’Cor dug in his toes and lifted his heels up, his jump jets kicked in.  Digging in either left or right toes allowed him to boost to either side while digging in with alternating left and right heels allowed him to skate his Mick with a side-to-side motion.

 

His left and right hands gripped joysticks that primarily controlled the weapons on each respective side.  For example, the right index fired his rapid-fire cannon while his left index trigger fired his shot cannon.  The middle buttons on both joysticks fired his missiles.  The little thumb caps on his right joystick controlled the torso twist of his Mick while the left thumb cap controlled the direction that the Mick traveled in.  It was possible to be facing one direction while moving away from where you were looking but it was easy to get confused if one wasn’t careful.  The helmet on his head was linked with the cameras and monitors of the Mick.  Wherever L’Cor looked, the Mick would also look too.  There were even more secondary controls – enough for L’Cor to seriously miss his old MAAC with the neural suit interface.

 

A blinking red dot appeared on L’Cor’s right secondary monitor.  This monitor showed the results of various scans performed by the Mick automatically.  Right now, the monitor was showing a possible heat signature about one hundred yards away from where L’Cor was now.  The heat signature could either be another Mick, residual heat from an earlier explosion, or even residual radiation.  If it was another Mick, chances were that the other pilot had already seen L’Cor’s heat signature as well.

 

Instead of heading directly for the signature, L’Cor hit his jump jets and jumped onto the roof of a nearby building.  Before L’Cor had a chance to fully rest the weight of Phantom Crash on the roof of the building though, he hit the jets again and jumped to an even higher building.  He kept moving until he reached the top of a medium sized office tower that was about twenty stories tall.  The roof of this building showed obvious signs of heavy wear and tear, which meant that L’Cor was not the first Mick pilot to seek refuge up there.

 

The heat signature had vanished from L’Cor’s scanner.  L’Cor decided that it was very likely that the heat signature had been another Mick whose pilot had just activated his/her Optical Camouflage.  L’Cor crouched down and scanned the streets in the direction where the heat signature had come from.

 

He panned the camera back and forth but could not see anything obvious.  He had to admit that the OC was a very tactically useful tool on the battlefield.  If L’Cor had the OC during the war, he probably wouldn’t have lost so many pilots to the Saxx.

 

L’Cor had two choices.  He could either wait until his opponent’s OC ran out of power or he could do something useful.  The longer he remained stationary increased the chance that someone else might come along and take a shot at him.

 

He decided to make one more sweep before making a tactical withdrawal.  That was when he noticed something odd.  All the buildings in the street cast a shadow.  All the shadows were leaning in one direction.  All that is except one.  One of the buildings cast only a partial shadow, as if something were standing in front of the building.  That something had to be the other Mick.

 

L’Cor’s missiles were useless, as they had nothing to lock on to.  L’Cor swivelled his right joystick and aimed his reticule at the centre of the where he thought the other Mick was and pulled the trigger.  Phantom Crash shuddered as its RFC unloaded hundreds of .75 calibre rounds.  On L’Cor HUD, the target area shimmered as the rounds hit.  Suddenly, the OC on the other Mick failed and L’Cor had his first clear image of his opponent.

 

The other Mick was outfitted with treads instead of legs.  That marked it as a heavy Mick.  The arms and shoulders bulged with heavy weapons and L’Cor shuddered to think what would have happened if he had not had the advantage of height and surprise.

 

A dual tone pinged in L’Cor helmet.  His missile launchers had a solid lock!  He released the RFC’s trigger and pressed both middle trigger buttons at the same time.  Phantom Crash recoiled slightly as two large missiles flared out from its shoulders.  L’Cor watched the missiles as they traveled to their target.

 

The other Mick was just starting to move forward and bring its weapons up when the missiles hit.  As a massive fireball engulfed the other Mick, L’Cor suddenly realized how vulnerable he was standing on the edge of a tall building.  He reversed slightly before charging forward and jumping off the roof.  As Phantom Crash started to come down, L’Cor dug his toes into the pedals and eased Phantom Crash down on a pillar of smoky exhaust.  He hit the ground running with all of his weapons pointed at the other Mick.

 

There was no movement from the other Mick.  L’Cor didn’t think anything could take two solid direct missile hits at the same time and still be functional.  He was right.  As he approached the other Mick, he could see that it was a flaming wreck.

 

Suddenly worried for the safety of the other pilot, L’Cor rushed forward to see if he could help.  This was a fellow human being after all, not an alien Saxx!

 

The cockpit assembly of the other Mick was still attached.  On the side, there was a large pink logo with the works, ‘Fizzy Pop!’ painted on the side.  L’Cor waited anxiously for the pilot to eject.  His hands were reached out in front of him in an unconscious attempt to help.

 

“Get the frak out of there!” hissed L’Cor.  Dagnag-it!  If only Phantom Crash had hands like a MAAC!

 

There was no movement though.  An alarm chimed in L’Cor’s cockpit, warning him of an eminent explosion.  L’Cor backed off several yards just as the other Mick exploded.  L’Cor had his first victory in the Tournament.

 

Another alarm chimed and L’Cor saw an advancing heat signature.  Another Mick was coming to investigate!  L’Cor backed himself up until the back of Phantom Crash was flush was the wall of a building.  Then L’Cor activated his OC.  The glossy material popped out of the top of Phantom Crash’s head and draped itself over the Mick.  Its internal fibre batteries charged up and it changed its colour to match its immediate surroundings.  L’Cor took a deep breath and waited.

 

He didn’t have to wait long.  A four-legged Mick came ambling down the street.  It had a weird gait, not unlike that of a walking spider.  L’Cor watched at it approached and decided that there was a distinct advantage to having four legs.  Not only could it bear heavier weapons, but it was also a pretty stable platform for shooting while moving.

 

The legs were centrally attached so that if the Mick lost a leg, the other three could compensate.  However, if the Mick were to lose two at the same time…

 

Thought became action as L’Cor disengaged his missile launchers and brought up both targeting reticules for the rapid-fire and the shot cannons.  Not only was the range too low for missiles, L’Cor didn’t want the other pilot to know that he/she was being targeted.

 

As the other Mick walked past, L’Cor hit both triggers.  The distance to the other Mick was only about twenty yards.  At this range, the light shot cannon was bound to do some damage while the medium rapid-fire cannon would be devastating.  L’Cor targeted both cannons on a single leg.  As soon as it collapsed under his fire, he shifted his aim to another leg.  It too broke apart under his withering fire.

 

A moment later, the Mick fell backwards.  “I yield!”

 

L’Cor was startled to hear the voice coming through his helmet.  He had not thought that he could speak with the other contestants during the match.  He keyed his communicator and said, “I accept.”

 

“Good shot by the way.”

 

“Uh, thanks.”

 

L’Cor’s OC ran out of power and he stepped out of his hiding place.  “Are you alright?” he asked.

 

“Yeah, just a little bruised up.  Hey, is that Yorich up there?  Did you do that?”

 

“Yes, but I didn’t mean to kill him.”

 

The other Mick turned its head unit around until it was facing L’Cor.  “Don’t worry about it.  We kept telling Yorich that he was piling on too heavy weapons.  He has those great big treads.  He should’ve been putting on more frontal armour.”  The other Mick waved its left arm weapon, “By the way, I’m Lani and this is my Mick Arachne.  You’re new right?”

 

Bemused, L’Cor waved back and said, “Yeah, I’m L’Cor and my Mick is called Phantom Crash.”

 

Lani laughed out loud.  “Well you certainly are a phantom and you definitely crashed me!  Better get out of here newbie.  Other Micks are probably on their way.  Don’t expect other pilots to simply walk past your guns like I did.”

 

L’Cor was utterly surprised by the lack of rancour in the other pilot’s voice.  Wasn’t he angry at being shot?  “Right, thanks Lani.  Uh, see you later?”

 

“Count on it.  Meet you at the Pecca bar after the fight.  You can buy me a drink.  It’s the least you can do with the prize money you just won off of me and Yorich!”

 

“Sure thing.”  L’Cor pushed his heels in and fired his jump jets behind him.  Phantom Crash shot off like a rocket down the street.  L’Cor wanted to put as much distance between him and the scene of the fight.  He planned on circling back around to see if he could get the jump on anyone else coming to investigate.  He was just glancing up at the sky when he saw another Mick jumping from roof to roof.

 

The other pilot must have seen L’Cor at the same time.  An alarm shrieked in L’Cor’s cockpit.  He was being locked on with missiles!  L’Cor’s scanner monitor automatically switched views.  It showed several small objects heading towards him at high speed.  L’Cor kept his velocity up and waited until they were almost on top of him.  Then he suddenly cut to the right at the next intersection.  As the missiles exploded against some buildings behind him, he fired his jump jets and jumped to the roof of a nearby building.

 

Phantom Crash rocked back and forth and the screeching tortured sound of metal upon metal hammered L’Cor’s ears.  Dagnag-it!  The other Mick was still after him!  He fired his jump jets to the side and dodged the next barrage of bullets.  As he turned his torso, he saw his attacker jumping from rooftop to rooftop.  L’Cor let his STM’s acquire a lock and then let fly with a staggered one two launch.  This time, he didn’t repeat his mistake of watching the missiles fly.  Instead, he jumped off his roof and headed back down to street level.  He booster-rolled his way to an open park before spinning around to face his opponent.

 

The other Mick was still bouncing from rooftop to rooftop, however, when L’Cor zoomed in, he could see some damage on the Mick’s left side.  L’Cor let fly with another pair of staggered missiles.  L’Cor charged forward this time and kept his eye on the other Mick. One of the missiles hit the Mick below the waist.  L’Cor had time to see damage to one of the legs before the other missile hit the other Mick in the torso.  L’Cor fervently hoped that he had not killed this pilot as well.

 

The other Mick landed on the field about one hundred yards away.  One of its legs promptly broke apart and it fell face first into the ground.  “I yield!”

 

This time, L’Cor was expecting the call and called out, “I accept!”  He gave his opponent a friendly wave as he sped away.

 

L’Cor headed back towards the area where he had left Yorich’s dead Mick and Lani’s disabled Arachne.  Sure enough, there was another Mick poking around the area.  L’Cor waited until he got a double tone and cut loose with a staggered missile launch.  This time, the distance was greater and the other Mick had time to dodge around the corner.  Both missiles missed.  L’Cor glanced at his quickly dwindling ammunitions supply.  He would have to be more careful. 

 

Instead of racing down the street, L’Cor cut down an adjacent one, hoping to cut off the other Mick.  He stepped out into the next street with all weapons ready to fire.  However, all that confronted him was an empty street.  Where was the other Mick?

 

L’Cor glanced at his scanner monitor.  There were no telltale heat signatures.  That meant that either the other Mick had dropped under its OC, or it had run out of the range of L’Cor’s scanners.

 

L’Cor fired his shot cannon down the street.  At this range, he couldn’t hope to damage anything.  However, that was not his intention.  The little individual ball bearings inside SC rounds fanned the width of the street as L’Cor panned back and forth.  In the distance, around 300 yards away, L’Cor saw a shimmering outline.  He quickly fired his RFC just as the other Mick’s OC shredded apart with his opponent’s return fire.

 

L’Cor felt a few impacts just as he boosted away from the front of the street.  A small missile hit Phantom Crash high in the chest while five more small missiles arched overhead.  In return, L’Cor fired off a single missile that hit the other Mick’s left shoulder, destroying both the left arm and shoulder weapons.  L’Cor fired another burst from his RFC as he closed and he had the satisfaction of seeing multiple impacts stitch their way up the other Mick’s torso.

 

Just then, the other Mick’s frontal armour caved in and the entire machine fell forward.  L’Cor saw a small explosion before seeing the cockpit assembly fly backwards.  The other pilot had ejected!

 

Rather than hang around, L’Cor chose a side street at random and boosted down it at well over eighty-five miles an hour.  He had run through over half of his RFC ammunition and he had five missiles in one launcher and six in the other.  Only his shot cannon had over seventy percent of its ammunition capacity left.  He had to find a resupply depot.  According to the game brief, there were a total of six contestants in today’s brawl.  He had taken down four contestants so far, which left one more to go.  L’Cor had not seen any sign of the last Mick, which meant its pilot was very cagey.  He/she had not gone to investigate the firefight like the other pilots had.  L’Cor would have to be careful, as he might not have enough ammunition for an extended battle with a wily opponent.

 

As L’Cor wove through the streets, he kept an eye out at the rooftop line, just in case his last opponent decided use height against him.  L’Cor turned another corner and was suddenly greeted by a large warehouse type building.  There was a large ‘Resupply Depot’ sign on top.  L’Cor stopped and scanned the plaza before him.  It occurred to him that this would be a great place for an ambush.

 

The sudden shriek of the missile lock on alarm rewarded his caution.  He had no idea where his opponent was and since doing something was better than doing nothing, he boosted to the left so that his RFC could cover the plaza.  His instinct was good.  As he sped in a zigzag pattern, he spotted the puffs of multiple missile launches.  L’Cor kept his speed up and let the missiles chase him.  Only two missiles came close to hitting him.  He rounded a corner and then hit his jets for a vertical boost.  He saw a blazing red line of light fan the area that he had just vacated.  Frak!  His opponent was armed with a laser!  L’Cor had not had enough money to put any anti-laser modules onto his Mick.  If that laser touched Phantom Crash, it was all over for L’Cor!

 

The nice thing about the laser though, is that it let L’Cor trace a line back to its originator.  He saw a heavy Mick on treads rolling away from the remnants of its OC.  Apparently, firing your weapons while in OC would disrupt and break it.  L’Cor vowed to remember that little tidbit of wisdom.

 

He got a lock on tone from his launchers and fired both missiles.  He hoped that this pilot at least had better frontal armour than poor Yorich.

 

Both missiles hit the Mick on its upper torso but did no appreciative damage.  As L’Cor came down from his jump, he fired his jets again and rolled towards some cover.  If two of his missiles didn’t faze his opponent, L’Cor wasn’t sure if the other weapons in his arsenal could do much better.  He had to find some way to get behind the behemoth!

 

L’Cor watched his scanner screen as the other Mick rolled towards him on a perpendicular course.  The pilot was smart.  He/she was trying to keep L’Cor in scanner range so that even if L’Cor were to drop under his OC, the other pilot would have a good general idea of where L’Cor was.

 

L’Cor turned at the next intersection and began raced down the street.  He was now running down a street that was parallel to his opponents.  The distance closed and L’Cor suddenly jumped into the air.  He had a few precious seconds as he fired both missiles at once.

 

Both missiles hit while his opponent’s return fire missed.  L’Cor rolled down another street that would bring him closer to his opponent.  As soon as he came across some short buildings, he jumped again and fired another two missiles.  Again, both missiles hit but the monster was still coming on strong!  What would it take to bring this monstrosity down?

 

The next intersection would bring L’Cor face to face with the heavy Mick.  Instead of rolling straight through it, L’Cor alternated his foot pedals until he was skating Phantom Crash like an ice skater.  These juking motions made the other Mick’s pilot miss with both the laser and its missiles.  However, its heavy shot cannon threatened to destabilize Phantom Crash’s course.  When L’Cor was about one hundred yards away, he headed straight for his opponent and then jumped.

 

The other pilot tried to follow L’Cor’s motion and missed with all four missiles.  L’Cor fired his jump jets to the side while in midair in a desperate attempt to turn Phantom Crash around.

 

When L’Cor landed behind the other Mick, he had only managed to turn Phantom Crash about ninety degrees.  However, he thrust his right thumb cap all the way to the left and Phantom Crash twisted its torso another ninety degrees.  In the classic ‘from behind’ position, L’Cor let loose with everything he had.  He aimed at the waist, where the torso connected to the heavy treads.  Two heavy missiles hit in that area, followed by several hundred .75 calibre rounds.  Thousands of ball bearings added to the carnage.

 

There was an explosion as the other Mick’s pilot ejected the cockpit from the rest of the doomed Mick.  The armoured sphere flew over L’Cor’s head and landed somewhere behind him.  It was over!  L’Cor had won!

 

A bell chimed in L’Cor’s cockpit and an aerial map overlaid his heads up display.  L’Cor followed the flashing arrows that were blinking on the map and slowly made his way out of the ruined city.