Birth or Death

Enemy fire incinerated the left arm of the Mad Dog. The pilot swung his right arm around and fired a gauss round directly into the cockpit of the Hellbringer that was engaging him. A sharp report followed by a deceptively mild explosion preceeded the Hellbringers' fall. As the pilot-less mech tumbled to the ground, the Mad Dog quickly cycled his radar, looking for another target. Abruptly, the lights went out in the cockpit.

"Very well fought, Ragnar," came a voice over the comm. Star Captain Eugene Hawklin was considered to be a hard, but fair instructor. Too old to be a front or even second line warrior, he had not felt the calling to move to another caste. He was a warrior and would be a warrior to the end of his days. However, when the opportunity to be an combat instructor, he jumped on it. While dealing with snot-nosed sibkin was not as rewarding was facing the enemy in glorious combat, he felt a sense of pride in knowing what he did here would affect the Clan in the future.

"Very well fought, indeed," he continued. Ragnar sat in the darkness for a moment before leaving the simulator, a slight smile touching the corners of his mouth. As he popped the hatch to the simulator, he released the fasteners on his cooling vest. Climbing out of the simulator, he looked as the two sibkin he had just defeated. Both looked mildly dejected, knowing that they were in for a much needed dressing down. Ragnar smoothed his features as he climbed down. Star Captain Hawklin stepped away from the command console and drew the two sibkin away in disgust. Ragnar stood next to the simulator, waiting for his dismissal.

After a short time, Star Captain Hawklin came to stand before Ragnar. "Well cadet, do you think you are ready for the Trials?" he asked.

Ragnar took a deep breath, almost letting his emotions break his bearing. "I believe I am, Star Captain."

Star Captain Hawklin stepped away and went to the command console. He picked up a data slate and started reading, nodding to himself every once in a while. "Well, from looking at your records, I would say that you are about as ready as you will ever be. Not that I can say the same about the rest of your sibkin," he grumbled.

Ragnar bit his tongue, maintaining his bearing. He had been waiting for his official announcement to Trial for weeks now. He watched as his instructor tapped away in the data slate.

"Are you sure you want to be a Mech Warrior? You are at the top of your class, but you excel at hand-to-hand. With your size, you could undoubtedly be an elemental."

"Neg, Star Captain. I want to be a Mech Warrior. While fighting the enemy in hand-to-hand combat gives great pleasure, I feel even more at engaging them at range," Ragnar responded.

Star Captain Hawklin shook his head. "Do not make me regret this, cadet." With a simple tap of his finger, the request had been sent.

"I will make you proud, Star Captain."

"Do not do it for me, you do this for the glory of the Clan. Dismissed, cadet."

Ragnar slammed his fist into the metal cabinet. With a resigned sigh, he rested his head against it for a few moments, replaying the battle in his mind. Once again, he had out-thought himself which was something that Star Captain Hawklin had warned him about. Just hours before he was to begin his Trial, he had the techs remove several armor plates from his Grizzly in order to make the increased speed requirements. Ragnar felt that perhaps speed would have been a little more beneficial than the extra armor.

After a few moments, he walked over to his bed and lay down, putting his left arm over his eyes. Initially, the Trial had gone as planned. Anticipating an short-ranged battle, Ragnar had his Grizzly outfitted with his standard Gauss Rifle, Plasma Cannon, and Extended Ranged Particle Projected Cannon with an extra Capacitor for extra punch. Unfortunately, having the techs strip several tons of armor proved to be his undoing. All pre-op checks were green, so he took the mech out on the Trial field. That was when he found out that the Trial was to be overseen by none other than the LoreMaster of Clan Diamond Shark, Doll Oshika. While this was a great honor, Ragnar felt a little trepidation. Why was the LoreMaster overseeing his Trial? Putting the thought out of his mind, he moved to his position.

When the call to engage had sounded, Ragnar shut down his meager sensor suite and immediately moved to higher ground. Almost immediately, he spotted the Vulture MkII. With a slight smile, he knew he had anticipated correctly. With an almost casual effort, he fired a full alpha at the oncoming Vulture MkII, chunks of armor blasting away from the mech. A slight jump in heat was the only indication that he had fired, for it appeared that the Vulture MkII was unaware of his presence. Turning to the back side of the hill, he initiated the jump sequence and fired again, his full salvo hitting the right arm of the Vulture MkII. Now, the Trial Officer knew his location. Ragnar moved off to the ridge behind him, waiting for the Vulture MkII to push on his position. Reaching the ridge, Ragnar turned his mech back and scanned the horizon. After a few moments, he could see the Vulture MkII crest a little right of where Ragnar had anticipated, but with a slight adjustment, he fired again. This time, the salvo went into the left arm. The Vulture MkII beat a hasty retreat to the other side of the hill.

Ragnar was feeling pretty confident in his choice for the speed now. However, the battle was far from complete. Almost immediately, the Vulture MkII was rounding the bottom of the hill 700m away. Ragnar fired again and immediately moved to find a new position. However, the Vulture MkII was considerably faster and closed the distance rapidly. All of the sudden, Ragnar felt a cold chill run up his spine. This was exactly what he was trying to avoid. However, he continued to fire and the Vulture MkII opened up with his array of weapons. He could see that he had blown the left arm from the Vulture MkII as well as destroyed the armor that covered the Trial Officers left torso. Ragnar's damage display lit up as he took a barrage from the Vulture MkII. "Extended Ranged Particle Projection Cannon offline" spouted the computer. Ragnar cursed as he kept trying to open the range between himself and the Trial Officer. However, the Vulture MkII pilot kept himself with 50m of Ragnar's Grizzly. If he were going to destroy the Vulture MkII, he was going to pay for it.

Ragnar cursed for allowing himself to be put into this position. Checking his damage display, he found that had taken only mild and moderate damage. Activating his jump jets, Ragnar vaulted over the Vulture MkII firing as he went. The Vulture MkII exploded in torrent of fire and metal as the Trial Officer's ejection pod rocketed away. However, the blast sent shrapnel and waves of heat into Ragnar's mech. As the gyros attempted to land the Grizzly, the computer was rattling off the list of damaged systems. As the heat dissipated, Ragnar took stock of his mechs condition. Most of the armor had been destroyed and he only has his trusted Gauss Rifle left. Slamming his fist into the console, Ragnar knew that he would not be able to defeat the other Trial Officers in this condition.

"Well fought, 1st Mechwarrior," LoreMaster Doll Oshika said over the comms link. "Are you ready to continue?"

"Aff, LoreMaster, I am ready," Ragnar replied. However, with only one weapon system and almost no armor remaining, he had not lasted long against the Timberwolf. Once his ejection pod was rocketing through the air, he knew it was over. After only a few moments, the medical transport had picked him up and, once ensured that he had sustained no damage, transported him back to the training facility. All through his induction ceremony, he could not help but feel that the Trial Officers only goal was to damage him as much as possible at the cost of his own mech.

Ragnar was startled out of his reverie by a knock at the door. Crawling out of bed, he checked his appearance in the mirror before answering the door. Opening the door, he discovered Star Captain Hawklin standing there with a slight smile on his face, still wearing his dress uniform. As he entered the room, he looked around as Ragnar shut the door.

"Congratulations are in order, 1st Mechwarrior," he said with that slight smile still on his face.

Ragnar looked at him a moment before saying, "Neg, Star Captain, I blew it."

Star Captain Hawklin stood looking at Ragnar for an eternity before responding. "Neg, you passed your Trial, which is what the Clan required of you. You are the one who set a much loftier goal. Not only that, but you second guess yourself, even after we had discussed this. It is something you must come to terms with."

"Agreed, Star Captain." Ragnar took in a deep breath and blew it out. "So, what brings you down here?"

"Well, I am here to deliver your orders. Seeing as how I did such an excellent job of training you, the LoreMaster herself gave me the privilege of delivering them. Congratulations Ragnar, you are going to be assigned to...."