Chapter 1

“Right, then. I can pay the electrical fee, the holovid fee and the water, and I will still have plenty left for food. …Maybe if I go back to two meals for the next few months I will have enough C-bills to do something about Nyx…”

Randi heaved a sigh of depression as she washed the dishes in a mechanical fashion. She closed her eyes and thought back to her other self.

“The other me…” she murmured, “the one who had dreams of golden glory.” She stopped and stared at her own face reflected on the plate in her hand. It was not the face she expected to see, nor was it the face she wanted to see. The corners of her lips curled back into a snarl as she dashed the plate into the sink before her.

“Gah!” she cried angrily. “I hate this! This is not what I want!”

As the rage consumed her, she remembered why she was here. “You have failed us.” Those horrible words echoed through her mind.

Randi sighed again and slumped down to the floor. “This is not what I want… but I have no choice.” She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. “The other me is dead.”

---

“Hey! Hey, Randi! Wait up!”

Randi turned and stopped at the sound of her name, as a young man in a jumpsuit bounded up beside her. “MechWarrior Maro…” she said slowly. “What is it?”

“Please, it’s just Maro, alright? Heh. You’re not leaving so soon, are ya?” The man ran a hand through his dirty-blonde hair and grinned. “The boss just gave me a visit-- says we’re launching another mission in few hours.”

“We just got back from a mission…”

Maro nodded. “Yeah, but you know how the boss is… Besides, this one oughtta be pretty quick. It’s only a short raid.”

Randi paused. “Every time someone says that…” She looked up. “Aa. Well, I shall wait. Orders are orders, yes?”

Maro frowned. “Hey are you okay? You’ve been acting kind of… out of it, lately.”

“Out of it’?”

He smiled and tilted his head to the side a bit, as he looked into Randi’s eyes. “Well, no offense… but you seem kind of lethargic these days. Uh, like you have a cold or something. Are you feeling well?”

Randi startled. “Yes. Yes, I am fine. Really.” She beamed Maro a fake smile.

He bought it. “Well, I’ll see you at 1800 hours, then.”

---

Randi took a deep breath as she strapped on the neuro-helmet and sank into the command couch. It felt as if she was melting into her ‘Mech and becoming part of it. That was the only thing that still made her happy. She powered up the giant war machine and the familiar voice of the computer greeted her, as it announced the status of her ‘Mech.

“Reactor: online. Weapons: online. All systems nominal.”

She hit the comm and barked her status to Colonel Aari. “This is Randi! Ready op!”

The rest of the lance gave similar, but less passionate reports.

“Okay, Scimitars, let’s get this show on the road!” exclaimed Aari gleefully, as he moved his Loki out of the MechHangar. The rest of the lance followed. “This should be a pretty-straight forward mission. There is a weapons depot at Nav Alpha, guarded by some calliopes and tanks. We clear them out, make sure it’s safe for salvage to come in, and then move on to Beta.

“That’s where the MechHangar is located, as well as a communications hub. We’ll probably meet some heavier resistance there. Intel shows at least one lance of medium ‘Mechs. To make sure they don’t call for backup, we need to take out the comm hub first. After that, we just need to mop up any enemy units and call in salvage.”

“Sounds great, Colonel,” said Maro cheerfully. “Hey, are you sure we have to destroy that comm hub? I was just thinking maybe we could take that, too, while we’re at it. Heh, maybe they have some better programming on their holovids.”

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea. I’ll check with command to see if our infantry’s up for a quick run.”

Randi nudged the throttle on her Catapult and came along side Maro’s Knight. Being near Maro made her feel a little better somehow. She trotted along beside him for about 500 meters, when something caught her attention. Randi stopped and twisted the torso of her Catapult to the right, trying to get a better look. She scanned the dry and uninteresting landscape for whatever had caught her attention. There was nothing on radar…

Aari broke her trance. “Randi! Keep up with the lance.”

Randi throttled up and formed up on Aari. “Yes, sir. It will not happen again.”

“Did you stop to take in the sights?” Aari asked with a chuckle.

“I thought I saw… something. It was probably just a mirage, sir.”

Suddenly an alarm went off in her cockpit. “Warning! ‘Mech power-up detected.”

Randi cursed cold-starts and camouflage and turned her ‘Mech about hard, as a Black Knight ascended the dusty hills. She readied her missiles and waited for a lock.

“Open fire!” cried Aari.

As the piercing ring of a missile lock confirmation filled the cockpit, Randi charged at the enemy ‘Mech and let loose two salvos of her LRM 20s. As soon as the LRMs left the missile racks of her Catapult, she leaned the joystick hard to the left, narrowly avoiding two blue bolts of PPC fire. She hit her jumpjets and launched into the air, raining down more LRMs and laser fire on the Black Knight.

“I can take care of this one, sir,” she called to Col. Aari.

Aari paused for a moment, then continued on his previous route, satisfied that the ‘Mech was focused on Randi and that she could handle herself. “I copy, Randi. We’ll wait for you at Nav Alpha.”

“Roger, sir.”

As the rest of the lance moved on to their destination, Maro’s Knight seemed to linger for a moment. He throttled up and moved back into formation.

---

Randi fused her brow as she trudged up the hill in her battered Catapult. She had managed to destroy the lone Black Knight quickly by taking advantage of the desert. The heat from its PPC fire combined with the scorching desert temperatures had caused the ‘Mech to overheat. Randi had seized the opportunity presented to her by putting a laser shot through the head of the 70-ton giant.

As she drew closer to Nav Alpha, she began to think about the pilot. Headshots guaranteed that the MechWarrior inside would not escape and she had not hesitated to use such a tactic.

“How very cold of me,” Randi thought to herself. She added bitterly, “He would have done the same.”

“Looks like you got to have all the fun,” said Maro, as Randi caught up to the lance. “We’re mopping up turrets, and you were out playing with that Black Knight.”

“Welcome back, Randi,” Aari said happily. “Nice to see you’re back in… mostly one piece. There’s an MFB here. Repair and reload your ‘Mech and we’ll head out.”

“Yes, sir,” Randi replied as she maneuvered her Catapult into the MFB. She felt the pull of gravity on her body, as her ‘Mech shut down and leaned over. Not two minutes later, her ‘Mech was good as new, excepting the scuffed and scorched paint.

She left the MFB, and Col. Aari set the lance’s new objective as Nav Beta. Randi hurried to catch up to the Colonel’s Loki, but instead fell in behind Singer, the last member of their lance.

“Hey, Randi... Leave some for me, this time,” he said wryly. Though she could not see him through the cockpit of his Dragon, she was sure that Singer was wearing a sly grin.

“Of course.” Randi bit her lip and dropped her speed back a bit. If Maro made her feel better, Singer’s presence had the opposite effect. Somehow, she always felt tense when he was near, as if she might have to fight or run for her life. She shook away the feeling and turned her attention back to the field.

Her focus was rewarded shortly with two red dots on the radar screen. “Contact! Nine hundred meters!” she cried.

“I have a visual on a Vulture and a Mad Dog,” said Singer. “How about I go warm up that Vulture with my LBXs, sir?”

“Good thinking, Singer,” said Aari. “Maro, you’re with me. Randi, you take out the Mad Dog.”

Randi hesitated for a moment. “…Sir? Which ‘Mech?”

“The Mad Dog! Now, get on it!”

Obediently, Randi opened fire and began to strafe her opponent, keeping the compound’s buildings between them. She began to close in a bit, which seemed to give the Mad Dog a bit of confidence. Catapults were generally configured for long-range fighting and fire support-- a close duel was just what the pilot wanted.

The Mad Dog charged at Randi with all weapons hot and blazing. Randi continued to evade the weapons’ fire, but stayed in close range, leading her opponent where she willed. Where she willed just happened to be quite close to a set of fuel tanks.

As soon as the Mad Dog neared the tanks, Randi threw her Catapult into reverse and slammed down on her jumpjets. She then fired a single laser at the tanks. A brilliant fireball shot up from the volatile fuel tanks and engulfed the Mad Dog in a firestorm. Randi’s Catapult rocked a bit as it descended back to terra firma. With a satisfied smile, and no more damage to her ‘Mech than some scorched paint, Randi trotted over to the target compound.

“Okay, people. We have one more job here. The infantry squad just rounded up the communications staff. HQ has agreed that this could be a valuable resource, so they’re sending some of our people to take over. We have to wait here and make sure that they get settled in safely.”

“Whoo-hoo,” Singer mumbled. “We get to baby-sit the holovid operators. Now, whose idea was this, again?” He turned his Dragon to face Maro.

“Heh. You know, they might give us a bonus for this…”

“Unlikely.”