MechWarrior Chapter 2

Aster crested the hill, his hand sweating on the control stick of Fire Moth. The hulking form of the 70 tonne Heavy Class Summoner loomed over Aster's Light 'Mech. But to Aster, something seemed 'off' about this threat. To him, it seemed to be just...wrong. Rusted, broken armor plates covered the pectoral locations on the chassis. Loose, sparking cables and wires poked out through dents and warps in the armor and Aster knew, he just knew, this wasn't normal. The humanoid shaped Summoner began to shift, it's massive 'calf' servos in its legs struggled to get the beast moving again. Aster stopped staring at the Summoner and looked for the cockpit. There, at the top of the torso, sitting on the right shoulder, was the pilot seat. 

The Summoner models looked vaguely human like but they were always headless. And for good reason. Being a Heavy Class, they really were quite invulnerable to anything lower than another Heavy Class 'Mech or even just massive long range artillery. Although, the Sniper weapons that could be mounted to the various 'Mechs proved to be quite capable of bringing one down. So the designers decided to remove the 'head' all together and replace it with a growth like cockpit on the right shoulder. This proved invaluable as now the Sniper type weaponry almost held no sway against one, and Aster knew it.

Warning signals flashed across Aster's HUD once more. The Summoner was arming another salvo of warheads from it's rocket tube. 

"Christ!" Aster yanked the control stick to the right and Moth took off, knocking down trees as it sped along the crest of the hill. 

The Summoner was struggling to turn. As Aster began to literally run circles around it, he wanted to look for an identifying mark but so far, no luck. It seemed like a rogue machine but someone had to be piloting it. Soon, the Moth detected that the missile lock was gone, and just soon enough. Aster looked out the cockpit's side viewport and saw the missiles go wide, tracing white contrails into the sky while some impacted into the ground leaving charred and burning landscape behind.

"Goliath one four to Styx Command, come in," Aster croaked into his helmet's mouth piece, I need an ETA on those two Mad Dogs, I can't keep dodging this thing forever, over!"

"Roger that, Goliath, ETA is 3 minutes, hold out as long as you can, Styx out." The radio went dead. Aster exhaled and sweat began to bead and drip into his eyes, stinging them. 3 minutes is too damn long, Aster thought.

He pulled back on his control stick and flicked two arming switches for his Moth's own weaponry. 

Weapons, arming....Armed, ready to fire

"Alright, here we go you son of a bitch," Aster thumbed the aiming reticule stub on the control and was trying to line up a shot. He got his chance and pressed the trigger.

A white-hot streak and loud metallic bang was all that Aster saw and heard as he pulled the trigger. The gun on his Moth fired the shell faster than most conventional ballistics and the Summoner felt it. Aster looked in time to see the shell impact the Summoner on it's left-side back plate and shred it. The round penetrated it and exploded sending metal, sparks, oil and flame in every direction. 

"Goliath one four, this is Omega zero two and zero 5, coming in at your three o'clock. Avoid sending munitions downrange to the north-east or this will be one short backup maneuver, over." 

Aster couldn't help but smile because his saving grace was on the way and he would be able to go home. He could finally shower and eat real food. He could finally sleep. His joy was cut short, however, because as he was celebrating in his mind, the Summoner had managed to turn around and fire its Particle Projection Cannon towards Aster. Aster knew that if that round made contact, he would be obliterated in a heartbeat. 

"Oh shit!" Aster pushed on the stick and as his Moth ran, the PPC round passed no more than twenty feet off his port side. It was close enough that Aster felt the heat through his cockpit and alarms were going off in there as well. 

"Computer, run diagnostics on everything! I want to know what that round did to me," Aster began punching commands into his console and was trying to line up another shot at the same time. He looked out the portside view panel again and saw warped and bubbling armor from the heat of the PPC Cannon. His Moth's armor was literally melting from the very frame.

Armor....compromised

Weapons....compromised

Portside, leg, rotator servo, motor, and instep chains....compromised

Advise: Disengage, make immediate repairs

"Well I can't certainly do anything about that!" Aster noticed a lot of vibration in his control stick and that was never a god sign. And then it happened.

Aster's head smashed into the console in front of him. His Moth's left leg shattered in it's strain. That PPC round may have no made a direct hit but the heat and radiation fused parts together, melted things off the frame and ultimately, the leg just snapped off. His 'Mech tumbled forward, and when running at it's full speed weighing in at twenty tonnes, Aster was carried quite a ways in the cockpit of his Moth as it nosedived into the soil and trees and kept going.

His vision blurry and with blood starting to drip from his mouth, Aster stared in silent, dazed horror as the Summoner turned and aimed its PPC Cannon right at him. 

...................................

Aster awoke to a beeping sound. It was at regular intervals and then he smelled disinfectant. He slowly opened his eyes and found himself lying in a hospital bed, surrounded with "Get Well" cards and the like. On the walls, various pictures of Styx landmarks and 'Mechs adorned them. But to his surprise, Shara was there as well, sitting in the chair next to his bed. Seeing him awake she bolted upright and called the nurse.

"Private Wick, please remain in bed, you have suffered severe trauma and burns, do not move," the nurse was shoving Aster back down in bed.

"I can't, I have to get out of here and find out what happened," Aster said as he made another attempt at resisting the nurse. He failed. He collapsed on the bed and exhaled sharply, clearly annoyed. 

His whole body hurt from head to toe. Shara stood up and grabbed Aster's hand as the nurse departed.

"Do you have any idea how lucky you were, Aster? And how stupid?" She was clearly upset yet her face was relaxed and poised. Her green eyes seemed to sparkle in the hospital's fluorescent lights. 

"What happened? Why am I alive? I should be dead," Aster stared into her.

"You're damn right, you should be," She let go of Aster's hand and walked to the window, crossing her arms behind her back, "You should be dead."

"What happened?"

"Omega happened, that's what. They tore that Summoner apart, utterly destroyed it. One of them took that PPC round for you and you should be damn thankful they got there in time," she pushed her straight black hair back behind her ear.

Aster admired her and was admiring that even in her uniform, her delicate feminine features still looked very strong.

"Although," she continued, "Omega recovered the Summoners Black Box and you're going to want to see what's on it." 

"When can I?" Aster looked at his body. Bandages covered him, on his arms, his legs, his head. Even the I.V. was wrapped in bandages to keep it in place. He felt like he wouldn't be leaving the hospital anytime soon.

"As soon as you get checked out,you're healed up, mentally okay, then..." she trailed off as she turned to him.

"Then...?" Aster looked at her quizzically. 

"Then," she continued, "we begin."