Solaris VII: 15 to 1 odds
 

two weeks later...

Scott sat at the feat of his mech with a rented dignostic computer attached to cords coming down from the cockpit.

"Hmmm it seems if I tighten some of the myomer bundles in the legg I'll either shred them the first time i full throttle, or I'll be able to get another 90 kilometers per hour out of it. hmmm. To risky i'll test it another time."

"What makes you think there will be another time, Coward." Scott looked up and barely dodged the FWL boot aimed at his face. This wasn't wholely unexpected most FWL mechwarriors viewed him as a criminal only because he was dishonorably discharged, It wasn't Scott's fault his resignation of commision was ignored.

Scott quickly got to his feet. The other pilot threw a punch, which scott dodged.

"You know Lt. Pinchuk, you shouldn't be so touchy about the past." Scott said as he dodged the blows. the securtiy personel tackled the man.

"Get off me. get off me." He yelled at the gaurds. "You abandonned us, when we needed you."

"Needed me, we were at peace fighting pirate raids, even you realized that such an existance is wholely unsatisfying."

Lt. Pinchuk calmed himself. The gaurds let him go.

"You may be right, but we'll settle this on the field. I'll be looking for you."

"Locust vs Locust, I find that intrigueing." He went back to the diagnostics. He put the diagnostic back into the tool kit and gave the cords a firm yank. The spool in the mech pulled them back up.

Lt. Lorens and Lt. Drelik front and center.

Karen just finished the diagnostics on her own mech when Scott called her up for strategy and planning. As she approached, Karen noticed the FWL mechwarrior that had been hassling Scott.

"What was that all about?" Karen asked Scott, gesturing at the FWL mechwarrior, who was now storming off.

"Whatever it was," Karen said, blowing off the needless interruption, "Alpha Lance is ready to go. Ordinance locked, weapons clean, all systems nominal."

Adam was in the middle of his own diagnostic when he was called over. He knew he still had plenty of time to finish, so he walked over when he was called. He'd seen the scene between Scott and Pinchuk, so that was just a little more incentive to get over there.

"Beta Lance is ready as well," Adam said as he approached. "Everything's green and running smoothly."

So much for getting the other girls drunk.

This time, it wasn't a simulator. This time, they were fighting a real battle. This time, he wouldn't be defeated.

They said they had 15 to 1 odds of winning.

This time, he made sure to place a bet.

Sigil's grip tightened on the pistol's butt and a finger flicked the safety from ON to OFF as the lieutenant attempted to assault Scott. Fortunately, he had no need to use it. Sigil slipped the pistol back into the holster as the guards took Pinchuk away, then walked up to where Scott and Karen were.

"Ready to fight, ready to kill, ready to do the devil's will."

"Good we should probably get loaded into the mech canisters. I hope you are all brushed up on your suborbital drop procedures."

"We're hot-dropping in from AeroDyne Dropships on this one? That's rather irregular for Solaris, isn't it?" Karen asked, pleased at the adversity apparrent in doing an aerial drop onto a small battlefield.

"Allright. Alpha lance, you heard the commander. Let's get packed into those canisters!" Karen called back to her lancemates, as the four returned to their mechs for dropship-loading.

"not for southern continent matches, the continent is unpopulated, and this way they can scatter the teams to the wind. All teams get three Leopard class dropships. which will also be deploying the film helicopters. Once they drop all of us they will leave the combat zone. Then the fun starts. Also don't shoot the helicopters."

As Sigil neared Lucifer's feet, he thumbed his lostech Nokia, and the Atlas rumbled to life.

"Wha's like us, then?" he asked nobody in particular, imitating a deep Scottish brogue.

"Gey few."

He cracked his knuckles and looked down for a moment.


"And a whole lud of them deid."

Sigil walked towards the canisters, and the Atlas followed with its slow, thundering footsteps.

Karen jumped into the howdah that would elevate her to the cockpit of her mech', and entered the cockpit, running a few last-second diagnostics on the systems.

Once that was done, she throttled up to minimum walk, and moved toward the canister loading area.