“Nova Kitty”

By: Slade Geance

Training Facility Alpha 02

Barcella

Kerensky Cluster, Clan Nova Cat Home World

2 Jan 3048

1600 Hours

James crawled his way out of the simulator pod and collapsed on the cold floor of the training room. He momentarily forgot where he was as he felt the cool floor through his sweat soaked clothes. The heavy footsteps of the approaching training officer suddenly snapped him back to reality. James' attempt to climb back to his feet and salute the officer came off more like a drunk trying to get his balance.

"Cadet James," barked the officer, "Does this appear to be a game for you, quiaff?"

James tried to blink off the effects of the recent simulation, "Neg Galaxy Commander. I was successful in my simulation run, however my mech had not lasted as long as I had hoped. I merely saw an opportunity for victory and had not the chance to weigh the consequences before I acted."

The Galaxy Commander's face began to grow red with fury. "Ha! You mean you acted before thinking! Cadet James, I will not tolerate your attempts at these...these antics!"

James sunk his head forward in submission as he began to protest. "But Galaxy Commander Drummond, I was only trying to…errk".

A large, meaty hand wrapped itself around his throat, cutting off his next word and lifting him a few inches from the ground. James had aggravated the Galaxy Commander into a physical confrontation now.

"Cadet James you will look into my eyes when you challenge me is that understood, quiaff?" he bellowed.

James could no longer answer him. The flow of air to his vocal chords was completely cut off. His eyes started to bulge from their sockets like missiles preparing to launch from their holding pods. He managed to shake his head in the affirmative enough that the Galaxy Commander released James from his grip sending him back to the floor. James gasped for air as Drummond walked about five steps away from James and then quickly spun around with his arms folded across his chest. "Since your sibko were all practicing solo missions today, I would like you to explain to them why I am displeased with your assessment of your performance in today's simulations".

The word explain pierced James' skull like the cold steel of a blade. He hated being made the example in front of his sibko. He hoisted himself to his feet so he could look into their eyes as he described the simulators events.

"Galaxy Commander had placed me into an Ice Ferret Configuration A and gave me a single mech to combat, which I learned later to be a Nova Configuration B. During the fight I lost my mech’s right arm, and the Nova lost its left arm before I was able to destroy its left leg. Although it was only a five ton difference in the mechs, the simulator did not go down easily."

His smile had only lasted for less than a second, but it was long enough for the Galaxy Commander to take notice. "Continue Cadet. WHY was the simulator hard for you to take down?"

James swallowed hard when he realized just what about his performance had infuriated his CO. "Um, during the match, the simulator directed the Nova into a charge at my mech. I was forced to take action to defend myself against such an act."

Drummond narrowed his eyes at James and pressed the issue further. "And just WHAT did you do, CADET James?"

James looked into the eyes of some of his sibmates. The thoughts that must have been going through their minds were impossible to determine but he knew that none of them was feeling sympathy for him right now. "The Nova initiated a charge to my left side. I sidestepped to the right and then spun to the left on the right leg of my mech. The maneuver was quick enough that the Nova passed in front of me, but I put too much spin into my own mech. My mech's right arm crashed into the Nova's left arm socket from behind, tearing off both arms and sending the Nova crashing face first into the ground. I then discharged my ER Medium Laser and Autocannon into the left leg socket slicing it from the main body. I regret the physical combat that resulted from my attempt to defend myself. But," James fumbled over the last words in his defense, "I...I was not fighting against a trueborn warrior, I was practicing against an honorless machine." James puffed out his chest, the look in his eyes reading I am right no matter what punishment I will face. Galaxy Commander Drummond crossed the distance between them in two strides as James started to back away from the severe beating that he was sure to follow.

"Stand at attention! Cadet James, you are aware of the Clans views of physical combat between battlemechs, quiaff?"

He responded solemnly, "Aff, Galaxy Commander Drummond."

"And do you wish to become a Warrior of the Clans, Cadet James?"

Again James replied, "Aff, Galaxy Commander Drummond."

Drummond took a step back and looked James over. He leaned forward bringing his face close to James'. "Then do not ever let me find out that you conducted physical combat in a mech against another trueborn warrior. Is that clear, quiaff?"

"Aff, Galaxy Commander Drummond."

Drummond briefly smiled at James, spun and walked away from the rest of the sibkos as he headed for the door of the training room. "20 laps,” he barked to the group as he passed through the doorway.

As the group filed out to gather their belongings and head over to the gymnasium, James turned back to the sim pod and grabbed his backpack. When he turned to leave, he found himself face to face with Cadet Olivia.

James and Olivia had become friends many years ago when several members of sibkos had been combined into a single group. Groups of children produced from the same male and female parents in the Clan eugenics program, sibkos were raised together and underwent constant testing. As various members of the sibko failed each test, they were transferred to the lower castes. When many had been washed out, failing to pass the training tests, the remaining sibkos had reasoned that it was more likely a training accident and not a test.

Olivia and James clicked almost immediately, and they had been friends since. James always said it was her warrior spirit that he admired most about her. One of the professors of the academy had told her something once about gods from ancient Terra granting that ability to warriors in their favor.

On more than one occasion she had caught him looking at her. He tried to hide it by passing out excuses, his favorite of which was the amusing “trying to understand the hidden you.” Olivia never fell for his excuses.

Right now the two of them were locked eye-to-eye. James opened his mouth to speak when Olivia quickly punched him in the left arm. His face changed to a look of surprise. "What was that for?” She smirked at him and punched him in the same arm again. “Ow, knock that off Olivia,” James complained raising his hands to defend and strike back should a third hit occur.

Olivia tilted her head to the side, saluted with the wrong hand and replied in her best masculine voice, "Sorry there Mr. Big bad warrior that likes to show off for the Galaxy Commander. Sir." She finished with sticking her tongue out at him. "Besides, Drummond warned you against striking a trueborn warrior like myself."

James chuckled at the gesture of comradery, and placed his hands on his hips to protest her presumption of his attack. "Now, we both know that I was not trying to …OOOMPH!" James doubled over as her fist slammed into his midsection, the force of which landed him hard on his tailbone on the solid metal floor.

Olivia cupped both hands over her mouth in a vain attempt to suppress the smile on her face. She lunged at his bag, grabbed it, and tossed it down the walk away from the door. In the same spinning motion she took off in a sprint for the door and yelled over her shoulder, "Last one finished their 20 forfeits dinner tonight, you aging surat!!"

James scrambled to his feet and dove after his bag still trying to catch his breath from the surprise hit. Not one to let a challenge go unanswered, he ran after her calling, "Bargained well and done you freebirth queen!"

The two of them barreled through the doorway as a technician dove out of their way to avoid being trampled.

Officer's Quarters

Barcella

Kerensky Cluster, Clan Nova Cat Home World

2 Jan 3048

2100 Hours

Galaxy Commander Mikel Drummond was reading over reports in his noteputer when the knock at the door broke his concentration. He got up from his overstuffed reading chair and walked across his quarters towards the door. With the progression in age and rank in the Clans the quarters seemed to become larger and larger. Perhaps it was a test of a warrior's speed as they aged in the Clans, to see how fast they could get to the door. As if being sent to train sibkos was not bad enough for warriors, it seemed like everything was a test to Mikel. Even his cadets were testing him.

As he opened the door, he was surprised to find his friend Sabian standing there. As fate would have it they were from the same sibko and fought together in many combat actions against the other clans. Both were also "retired" together. It had been rumored in their youth that had they not died in combat they would eventually kill each other. A growing friendship over the years had put that rumor to rest long before their reposting here on the home world.

Mikel bared a warm smile and extended his hand in welcome. "Sabian you old 'war horse' you! Come in, come in." Sabian shook Mikel's hand and entered the living quarters. "I love what you have done with the place Mikel. Very quaint and cozy. Needs curtains though."

Sabian always joked in Mikel's presence, but only when no one else was around. According to Clan ways a warrior with a sense of humor could be considered dezgra, or a disgrace, in the eyes of other Clansmen. So they kept this little bit of humor to themselves. He groaned in disdain for the attempted joke. He had never objected to Sabian's light-hearted side, but then again he never promoted it either. After so many years of friendship these things were usually considered unspoken agreements between the pair.

Mikel turned to see Sabian heading for a seat on the couch at the far side of the room. "I would offer you a seat Sabian, but Kerensky knows you will sit where ever you want anyway." Sabian flopped down onto the cushion and snorted at Mikel's remarks.

Life had been this way for three years now on the home world. Training by day, catching up on news at night. No one to judge them, no one to watch over them in what little private time they had. This was the most relaxed time for the two trainers. This was the only time they had to reflect on the day's events.

Sabian sighed in relief as he placed his feet up onto a footstool near the couch and unbuttoned the top button of his uniform. Mikel walked back over to his reading chair, scooped up the noteputer and tossed it the three feet it needed to make it to the desk. He rubbed his eyes with both hands as he settled back into his chair.

"Sabian, I had the strangest thing happen in my cadet group today. One of the cadets had managed somehow to calculate my reprogramming of the simputer and avoided a charging Nova. Then, by what would appear a fluke of luck, he disabled the mech using the arms of his mech to knock it flat on its front, and then shot the leg off to disable it. It was if he knew what it was going to do before it happened. I have been thinking about that event for most of the day, trying to analyze what indeed occurred."

Sabian nodded in understanding of what Mikel was getting at. Of the twenty original Clans, Clan Nova Cat members were known to have some mystical or extra sensory powers about them that made them stand out from the rest of the Clans. Most clans simply judged Nova Cats as lucky in pitched battles because of their lack of belief in mystical powers. It was rumored that certain members of the Nova Cats had a strong sense of foresight into future events, commonly referred to as visions, within the Clan itself.

Sabian folded his hands over his stomach and looked over at his friend. "I wish at least one of my cadets had that skill. I have this one cadet, Lawrence, small boy, always getting picked on and beat up. He chose a solo mission in a Conjurer against a Dire Wolf to prove himself amongst his sibkin. He starts the mission off running right at the Dire Wolf moving left and right trying to avoid being hit while firing as fast as the weapons will recycle. Next thing I see in the monitor is his mech and the Dire Wolf being torn to ribbons by an explosion. After reviewing the simulation data, I found out that he locked out the coolant flow, which overheated the reactor and it went nova right in front of the Dire Wolf destroying both mechs."

Mikel's stopped rubbing his eyes, and turned to Sabian with a look of total shock on his face. "He did what?" Sabian simply nodded to confirm the story he had just told. "I do not know what to do with him Mikel. I have talked to the boy on several occasions and it seems he just wants to die in combat, regardless of the outcome. For a cadet to make it this far only to die at the first sign of combat is a waste of a warrior and the time to train him. It is like these cadets think that life is a game, and here we are preparing them for war. How do you prepare someone for war? Sure, I can take any person and turn them into the toughest MechWarrior around, but are they ready to handle that responsibility? You must know what I mean because you hold the same rank and responsibilities as I do. Or did. But any matter, I feel I am making progress with him. He seems to be listening in when we discuss tactics in warfare. Perhaps I will make a worthy warrior of him yet. I just do not know if I can say if these cadets are ready to hand out death with an apathetic demeanor. Remember our first assignment to the Striker Cluster? That arrogant warrior Darryl was always boasting about his kills and his status in the Cluster. The first time he saw the gutted cockpit of a downed mech he lost it. I cannot let a cadet become a warrior that is afraid of killing or that cannot handle the macabre scene of warfare. It does no benefit to the Clan as a whole to have a weak-stomached warrior."

Sabian often ranted about the cadets that were coming out of training. No one ever seemed to fit his ideal mold of a Clan warrior, not even himself. He was always pushing further and harder than most would in any given situation. Taking unnecessary risks that ironically turned out to be beneficial landed him with the rank and bloodname, but in turn denied him his death in battle.

"But," Sabian continued, "if your cadet has the gift of foresight then I would watch him closely. He will only become a great warrior if you guide him on the right path. Teach him to use his gift to win in combat. This will benefit you both in the Clan."

Mikel rose from his chair and began to pace the short distance to the couch where Sabian sat. His hands were clasped behind his back and his face reflected the deep thoughts running through his mind. Did Cadet James have the special gift of the Nova Cats? Was it too early to perform the ritual tests to determine if he indeed had the gift? If he were to sponsor him and he failed at the tests what would become of him? He did not enjoy the uncertainty of the situation. Too many unanswerable questions hung perilously in the balance. This was definitely a time for caution and planning. Rushing headlong with the mere speculation that Cadet James had a gift would certainly cost the life of his sponsor and simply rob James of a chance to become a warrior. Recklessness was not the way of a trueborn Nova Cat. The Chronicle of Battles was a solid testament to that. It reminded them that victories would always be won through superior strategy and planning, long before the warriors would even reach the battlefield. Mikel settled back into his chair as he determined his next course of action.

"There are a number of things that I must do to prepare my cadet for the tests. If he indeed has the gift it will mean a great deal to the Clan."

Sabian nodded in agreement, "You are correct. But it will also be a big development for you my friend. Guiding a cadet to warrior status that has the gift would be a big help to you in the coming Oathmaster Grand Melee."

The mere mention of Oathmaster had a magnetic attraction for all Clans. The Oathmaster Grand Melee was a once a year event that offered every member of Clan Nova Cat the opportunity to become Oathmaster. It was comprised of two parts, a massive Circle of Equals and a Forum of Law. Every member of Clan Nova Cat regardless of caste could enter the Circle of Equals and attempt to emerge victorious. The winner of that contest would then have to prove, to the satisfaction of the Khans and his opponents from the Circle of Equals, his or her knowledge of the Nova Cat version of The Remembrance, Clan Law, Nova Cat tradition and the many exceptions made to law and tradition, thus known as the Forum of Law. If the victor from the Circle of Equals failed this second test, the last opponent he defeated would then enter the Forum of Law. If that opponent also failed, the current Oathmaster would keep his or her position for another year. The current Oathmaster had held the office for three straight years now.

"It would add a glorious end to a wonderful career as a Nova Cat warrior you know," continued Sabian. "Plus I think it would be a welcome change since you are as stuck as I on this miserable planet. There is no chance that we would get rotated to the front lines if the invasion ever begins."

Mikel mulled over his friend's idea for a few moments. He and Sabian had been sent here to train new sibkos for combat. In returning to their home world, they were given the title of solahma, warriors deemed to be past their prime for combat effectiveness and subsequently shipped off to become trainers or garrison troops. Most often these retired warriors often accepted suicide missions for the chance to die in combat. Once you became a solahma you had no more future in the Clan.

But this cadet that may or may not have the gift was the best ticket out of this existence for Mikel. He quickly decided this mission was absolutely worth accepting.

Combat Training Facility

Barcella

Kerensky Cluster, Clan Nova Cat Home World

19 February 3048

1000 Hours

"Welcome to the Combat Training Facility!" The voice bounced against the walls of the giant room and echoed off the steel girders supporting the domed rooftop. Ten cadets from sibko class 067 and ten from class 068 stood two rows deep before the CTF instructor. Behind the instructor was a large cylindrical control room where simulator pods attached like spokes waited. The four controller’s seats were surrounded by crammed computer equipment needed to handle the massive amount of input from the twenty pods attached to the system. Behind the cadets were a bank of seats, most of which were currently occupied by the other members of three separate classes. The instructor began to walk back and forth in front of the standing cadets.

"Now before we let you surats pilot our wonderful Omnimechs in training sessions we first must find out if you even know what you are doing in them. You have run simulator tests before but they all have been solo missions. Today you will work as a team. Behind me are twenty pods. This means that two Binaries will face off against each other. We will be monitoring your performance and your ability to work as a team against your opponents. You have been given your Star assignments so there will be no fighting for command. Your Training Officer will be your Binary commander. If there are no questions cadets, fall out to your pods."

James rounded the bank of pods, stopping at his and punching in the numbers to open the door. It hissed as it swung upward on hydraulics. He unzipped his jumpsuit, stripped it off and tossed it in the basket underneath the pod. Wearing only his combat boots, a pair of shorts and his cooling vest he climbed up to the pod. As he looked over the top he saw Olivia stripping off her own jumpsuit as she prepared to climb into her own pod. James smiled slightly and settled into his seat. The simulated cockpit may have seemed cramped to any other person, but one of the biggest beliefs of the Clans was waste not, want not. James pulled the 5-point harness straps over his cooling vest and locked them in place around his midsection. It seemed the only difference between these pods and the real Omnimechs was you didn't die here.

James tapped open a panel under the left arm rest, pulled out the tube that pumped coolant during simulations and connected it to his vest. Tapping an identical panel under the right arm rest he pulled out and attached the tube that served as an exit for the coolant. With the second tube connected the coolant began to flow. He shivered as his skin acclimated to the change in temperature. Reaching down the front of the seat he slid back another panel and pulled out a set of five wires with connectors on the free ends. Weaving them under the harness straps, James let them dangle from a catch near his left shoulder. He then reached up to a shelf just behind his chair and pulled down the neurohelmet needed to pilot the BattleMech. The pilots own sense of balance and movement was translated by the helmets and fed that information to the massive gyroscope that controlled the movement of the metal giant. He rested the neurohelmet on his head and let it settle down over the extra padding on the shoulders of the cooling vest. Checking his freedom of movement he stretched his arms out to all the controls of the pod. Once he was satisfied he tightened the chinstrap on the helmet and plugged the sensor feeds that he left dangling from his harness strap into the ports on the helmet. He punched the lock code for his pod into the numeric keypad on the front control panel. The open door swung down, latched and closed on the pod. And then it was dark.

James grabbed the control sticks by memory in the dark confines of the pod. He forced the feeling of butterflies out of his stomach and concentrated on the task at hand. Out of the hundred members that were created for his sibko, forty remained and James was one of them. That said a lot considering that sixty percent had failed or died at this point.

James recalled his briefing before coming to the CTF. He had been assigned to a Star with Olivia, David, Taylor and Greg and they had been designated Alpha Star. The other five members of their sibko would be Bravo Star for this exercise. James had always done well before in the simulators in solo missions but this would be his first group engagement.

A red LED light began to glow on the control panel signaling that all pods had been filled and locked down. James felt a slight sinking sensation as the pods raised above their docking cradles to allow for free movement during the simulation. The pod's movement mimicked a true mech through use of hydraulic jacks. This would give the rider the sensations of falling, walking, running, taking damage, jumping, and crashing. James closed his eyes to prepare against the bright lights of the monitors that would flare to life momentarily. The CTF instructor’s voice came over the speakers built into the helmet and began to prep the cadets for the simulation. "In this simulation you will be fighting on a barren plain. There will be some small rock outcroppings and rolling hills to add to the realism of this simulation. Each Binary will start in one area, and then you will move out to make contact with the enemy. All cadets will begin startup procedures now."

With that all the controls came alive in the pod. The view screens glowed with the light of a simulated landscape. Red sand whirled in the fake wind as it passed over his view ports. James toggled the necessary switches to the on position and began his reactor warm-up procedures. As with most mechs, the simulator, when powered or shutdown, rested in a locked position on its haunches with the cockpit facing downward to the ground. As the sounds of the reactor began to hum louder the simulator began to straighten upright. When the machine reached its full height the computer came online. The monotone voice played thru the neurohelmet, “Reactor online. Authorize release command.”

In the real world mechs had several safety features to prevent their theft, but in the simulation room these features were dispensed with to speed up the number of simulations that could be run. James punched the release code into the keypad. "Release confirmed. Welcome to the Combat Training Facility Simulator Pods." James silently hoped that not all mechs had such an irritating computer voice.

* * *

Mikel and Sabian sat at the computer terminals that would relay all the data from the battle and concentrated specifically on their own cadets. Several monitors were embedded in the room to provide readouts on the health status of the cadets, the mechs they piloted, the terrain, and a host of other options. Each of the men already had an idea of what they wanted each cadet to use in the simulation, but these were old men. And they were very set in their ways.

Sabian turned in his swivel chair to face Mikel. Placing his hands on his gray leather pant legs, he straightened his back letting several vertebrae pop audibly. A warm predatory smile appeared as he began their private war in the control room.

"I am Galaxy Commander Sabian Rosse, once commander of Delta Galaxy now solahma and cadet trainer. I bring a Binary of whelps to this battle to defeat you."

Sabian held himself straight in the chair as he awaited Mikel's response.

"I am Galaxy Commander Mikel Drummond, once commander of Omega Galaxy now solahma and cadet trainer. I also bring a Binary of whelps to this battle to defeat you." The total mass of the mechs was given to keep the others from knowing exactly what mechs their cadets would be facing during the simulation. "My Binary will amass a total of 700 tons. What will yours be Sabian?"

Then came the cut down. "I know that my cadets would defeat yours with just 600 tons combined weight Mikel. Do you counter or accept?"

Each commander would reduce the forces of his troops to ensure victory at the lowest levels of collateral damage to the overall unit. It inevitably turned into a pissing match. Mikel reviewed a clipboard on the counter ledge behind him.

"I did not know you to be so bold Sabian. I can reduce my forces to 575 tons and still hand you a serious loss."

Sabian rubbed the sweat from his palms on the tops of his pant legs. Being retired removed all combat exposure but this game he played against Mikel felt just like the real thing. Every time.

"575 is a dangerous number Mikel. 555 is lethal.That is my final bid."

Mikel smiled at his long-time friend and nodded in agreement. "Bargained well and done Sabian."

Sabian turned around to retrieve a clipboard similar to the one Mikel had just grabbed.

"Ok Mikel. I have been working with Lawrence a lot these past few weeks. I plan to give him the heaviest mech possible to see if he has retained anything I have told him. What about your boy James?"

Mikel scratched at his temple with the end of a pen. "I plan to see if he will pick up on your ruse. I do not intend to make him the leader of the Binary, but I will see about altering the chain of events to bring it about."

* * *

The screens on the control panels flickered as they came on and James got to see the readout on his mech. Today James had a 65-ton Hellbringer at his fingertips. Each arm sported a hexagonal weapons pod that housed an Extended-Range Particle Projection Cannon, known as a ER PPCs. With magnetic accelerators that fired high-energy proton or ion bolts they caused damage through both impact and high temperature.

Nestled in the mech's left torso were three ER Medium Lasers, and the right torso held a pair of machine guns along with a 6-tube Streak Short Range Missile system. The genius of the Streak system was that unless the missiles were guaranteed to hit the intended target, they didn't fire.

The Hellbringer bristled with tactical equipment that worked in tandem with its offensive equipment.

An Electronic Counter-Measure (ECM) pod to jam or scramble communications and sensors, an Active Probe to locate units seen or hidden at greater distances, and a Targeting Computer to assist the pilot during fights were all readily available. The Anti-Personnel pods in the legs had been kept as part of the simulation but weren't needed so James toggled them offline to prevent from accidentally firing them.

"All cadets form up at Nav Point 1."

James recognized the voice of his training officer, Galaxy Commander Mikel Drummond, and moved the controls to start his mech walking to the navigation point on his Heads Up Display.

The seat began to sway in motion with the strides of the Omnimech as James brought the throttle up to a run. He covered the 100 meters to the nav point in a few seconds, and arrived to watch the rest of the Binary approaching right on his heels. He was able to quickly identified each of the mechs without the use of the computer identification system. Two more Hellbringer models, a pair of Summoners, three Novas, and two Adders completed the Binary. Each mech appeared in a faded dark red color. Black strips were painted horizontally across the mechs to break up their silhouettes with the horizon. The simulation would provide the information for each of the pods to identify friend or foe at distances beyond normal sight.

James had begun to look at the monitor displaying an overhead map when Drummond came over the line again. "Cadets, diamond formation. Hellbringer Alpha take lead, Bravo take his left, Delta take his right. Nova Alpha, Bravo, and Delta bring up the rear, Adders guard the left and right flank and Summoners are on point 300 meter advance."

James realized that he just became the front man in the formation, as he was Hellbringer Alpha. The cadets effortlessly moved their mechs around to form up the diamond pattern. The two 70-ton Summoners had already begun to move to their stations 300 meters away from the lead element, and 300 meters apart. The distance would allow for the enemy to be detected and the whole group alerted without walking directly into a trap. A new beacon began to flash on the map screen to the north as Navigation Point 2, and then a third east of point 2.

"Cadets will proceed through points 2 and 3 and back to 1. Contact with the enemy will be expected. Eliminating your opponents will award points, surviving them will bring victory. Begin".

James throttled his mech up to half power and began the march to Nav Point 2. All of the other mechs responded in kind, moving the diamond formation across the simulated desert. Heat scales began to tick into the green area as the mechs got closer to their opponents. Only a few minutes had passed when the first signs of contact were made. The Summoner to James' left radioed contact with an enemy Omnimech identified as an Adder. The Adder was a 35-ton heavily armed scout mech with a short body hunched over backward-canted legs. Its most popular armory configuration was a pair of PPCs, one in each arm. A few seconds after the contact message came the report that the Summoner lost its left arm and with it the use of its LB5-X Autocannon from two well placed ER PPC blasts. James smiled at the good news that immediately followed the bad. The Summoner had missed with its own ER PCC, but landed enough missiles into the right torso of the Adder, destroying that section and blowing off the adjoining right arm. James stepped up the speed to provide support for the Summoner, as it now reported taking damage to its right leg. James surmised that they were trying to take out one of his scouts to effectively blind his Binary. The problem was that his scouts weren't light mechs; they were big enough to take the brunt of an attack giving it time to alert the Binary. James thought the enemy might've used a bigger mech to begin the initial contact and ensure a quick kill, but then that might give away any surprises the enemy would have for him. He was about to order the second Summoner to pull back and keep it from getting separated when an enemy contact flared to life on his scans. He checked his scanner as the computer scanned the new mechs signature and reported that it was a Nova. Somehow the mech had weaved between a pair of large hills and caught the Binary unaware of its presence. In the split second that James detected the stubby mech, two blasts erupted from it lashing viciously into the other lead Summoner. James frowned as the pilot reported total loss of armor on its right leg and a fused hip socket. The Nova pilot then fired the jump jets mounted on the mech and landed back behind the hill it came from before the Summoner could bring its guns to bear.

The first Summoner was still engaged with the Adder as the Binary moved to catch up with it. The conflict was going well in favor of the enemy. The Summoner had taken two more hits, one to the left leg melting off over half the armor there, and the other to the right arm stripping all but the last scraps of armor. The Summoner had missed two missile salvos, but struck home in the Adder's center torso with a single ER PPC blast.

Drummond piped over the comms and ordered the Summoner to back off while the rest of the Binary moved up to engage but as the command was received the Summoner took a shot to the left torso, wrenching the gyro and almost tipping it over. The Binary neared the Summoner on the left side but no one dared fire at the Adder that was now backed up to a rock outcropping. Firing would be a violation of zellbrigen, the Clan rules for one-on-one honor combat. A violation would bring on a melee. No cadet would risk such a violation let alone the severe punishment that would follow. Once a target was engaged they slugged it out until one or both fell.

James watched as the Summoner pilot wrestled his mech back to its feet, and leveled its right arm at the Adder. Brilliant azure light spat from the muzzle of the ER PPC and ate hungrily into the front of the Adder. When no return shot was fired James targeted the enemy mech and a chill ran down his spine at the damage report. The center torso was shown in bright red indicating that is was nearly breached, the right torso and right arm shown in black were gone, and a black spot rested where the cockpit would have been. Head shot, James thought to himself, what a way to go.

"Nice kill Summoner Alpha. Fall back into formation, Nova Bravo will replace you," Drummond called over the comms.

James focused his attention back to the wily pilot of the enemy Nova that had already handicapped the second Summoner. His was the next closest mech if the Summoner should fall to the Nova. He would have to be ready for anything, especially if another mech stepped up to fight. Unable to see past the hills, the Summoner blasted off a round of missiles and its ER PPC. A pair of electric blue bolts rippled out from the concealed location, but only one connected to the right torso of the Summoner. Smoke rose up from behind the hill as the Nova stumbled into view. James pumped up the magnification of his viewer and could see the loss of its right arm and the crushed right torso. In an excited rage he keyed his mic and called out the order to the Summoner. "Finish him!!"

The Summoner that had started out scouting for contacts and had lost its right leg mobility to its opponent stopped and leveled both arms at the weaker enemy mech. This time he started off with his LB-10 X Autocannon, which was known as a mech-sized shotgun. The nickel-titanium slug round raced towards the Nova, and slammed full force into the left leg knocking the mech off balance. Before the enemy pilot could respond a flight of 15 missiles jumped from the shoulder-mounted launcher of the Summoner and they were joined mid-flight by the massive energy of the ER PPC from the right arm. The bolt of electricity reached the center torso of the Nova first, boiling away over two thirds of the armor protection. The missiles riding the white and gray smoke targeted the same area and detonated with an awesome fury. Plates of armor crumbled and fell from the torso of the Nova as subsequent explosions reached into the internal structure and clawed at the heart of the mech. The Nova shuddered under the tremors of the warhead detonations. It then crashed, sprawling face first into the ground as its powerful fusion engine succumbed to its wounds.

James watched as the victorious Summoner turned around to return to the safety of the main formation. The celebration was short-lived however, as the Summoner was swallowed in a cloud of smoke and bright flashes of explosions. In all the excitement James had forgotten to watch his scanners, and now a Mad Dog had circled behind the formation and unleashed a volley of forty Long Range Missiles from its torso mounted launchers at the injured Summoner. As the wind picked away the dust and smoke James could see the Summoner was down and not getting back up. The right leg was torn off at the hip. The entire torso was riddled with dents and exposed internal supports. James did not envy the jarring that that cadet took from the simulator pod when all those missiles hit the mech.

* * *

Sabian slapped the counter top. "Ha! Bet you were not expecting that one, quiaff!"

Mikel shook his head at his friend. "Aff. I will get you yet Sabian. This is far from over."

* * *

James anchored his mech in place and turned around to face the Mad Dog. The bird-like mech was perched on a small rock formation off to the back right of the Binary James was leading. The Mad Dog's boxy torso held a space on both sides for a LRM20 launcher. Its arms ended in a double-barrel configuration of Large and Medium Pulse Lasers. When standard lasers were fired the beams energy was dissipated by whatever it touched making it less effective over time. The pulse laser fired the beam off and on in rapid succession so that each tiny beam hit with the same consecutive force. The targeting computer of James' Hellbringer had achieved a good lock on the torso of the mech when the Adder from the right side of the diamond formation stepped out and ripped off a round of Autocannon fire. The cluster munitions the Adder was carrying in place of the slug rounds stripped a small amount of armor off the left and right torsos. To add insult to injury, a beam of pulsing red light stretched out from the Adder's right arm and carved a blacked rent in the right torso of the Mad Dog. The Adder was a squat-looking mech that held a low profile much like that of the Nova but with significantly less firepower. And although the pilot was rather bold for taking on the Mad Dog it wasn't going to make much difference in this case. James heart sank as plumes of smoke erupted from the chest of the Mad Dog, signaling another volley of missiles from the twin twenty-tube launchers. The Adder stood fast as the missiles arched in toward their target. Had the pilot tried to evade them he might have fared better.

More than half of the forty missiles found their target and they split fairly evenly across the torso of the mech. The left arm rocketed away as the left torso was crushed from the force of the warheads and the mech was forced over backwards as the rest of the missiles converged on the right torso. A thick cloud of black smoke oozed from the cracks in the armor. The limbs went limp from loss of power flowing from the fusion reactor to the myomer muscles.

The rear Nova of James' Binary stepped out of position and moved to challenge the Mad Dog. In doing so, he left the already damaged Summoner guarding the rear of the formation. Before James could order the Nova pilot back into formation, the Summoner was hit from behind. A light scout mech known as a Kit Fox had stepped into engaging range for its Extended-Range Large Laser and LB5-X Autocannon. The Kit's bulbous torso was supported by backward-canted legs and its arms stretched out from its body as if signaling opponents to attack it.

A large laser cut through the limited amount of armor on the rear of the Summoner's left torso but struck none of the critical internal components. The Autocannon slug slammed in to the back of the right knee wrenching the Summoner over onto its right side. The groan and screech of armor plates twisting and bending under the 70 tons of machinery was audible even with the external speakers turned off.

The situation didn't look good for James' Binary. Although they had downed two enemy units, they were being pummeled by a formidable heavy class missile-laden mech and now a light class mech had knocked downed one of their own heavy class mechs. But the Summoner was just down, not out. The Kit Fox was exactly half the weight of the mech it just attacked, so the pilot was going to have to be exceptionally good with his targeting to survive the next exchange.

The Summoner pilot dragged his mech back up onto its feet and the Kit Fox lashed out again with the large laser striking the already damaged front side of the left torso but still missing anything internal. The round from the LB5-X Autocannon crushed some plates over the right torso of the Summoner, but failed to affect it in any noticeable way. The right arm of the Summoner angled back at the torso of the enemy mech and unleashed a torrential whip of electric blue. The angry wave of energy devoured the entire left arm of the opposing mech, dropping melted fibers and wiring to the desert floor.

The Summoner was just getting warmed up. From the shoulder-mounted tube, fifteen missiles jumped off, racing to the finish line that was the Kit Fox. Three missiles arched wide of the mech, but the ones that connected did so with severe damage. The Kit Fox lost all the armor on its right arm and center torso and caught the last missiles on its left torso. The warheads had savaged the breach mechanism of the LB5-X Autocannon in the right arm preventing its further use, and the engine shielding in the center torso was weakened. Some black smoke poured from the holes in the Kit Fox's arm, hinting at the rising temperatures in the core of the mech.

Meanwhile, the Nova had begun to engage the Mad Dog in a vicious struggle for dominance of the simulation. Much like the enemy Nova that was defeated, this one was also packing twin ER PPCs. The first volley from the Nova was seen as revenge for the defeat of the Adder. The left arm blast reached out and destroyed all the remaining armor over the right torso of the Mad Dog, breaching the LRM stores and touching off a massive ammo explosion. The Cellular Ammunition Storage Equipment (CASE) channeled the detonations through the rear armor of the mech preventing its total destruction. The right arm blast from the Nova stripped away the protective armor from the left leg. Internal ammo explosions sent feedback into the neural receptors of the pilot's helmet and accounted for the wide shots of the large pulse lasers of the Mad Dog. The Nova pilot drove forward toward the Mad Dog, unfazed by the stray shots, and dished out another round of pain. The massive heat generated by the twin ER PPCs had begun to affect the targeting systems of the Nova. One blast went wide. The other struck the Mad Dog in the left leg at the hip joint, melting into a useless blob of solid metal.

Recovering from its wounds the Mad Dog lashed back at the Nova gouging a rut across the right leg, but failed to slow it down. Inside the Nova's cockpit alarms were ringing and warnings were relayed regarding the extra heat that the heatsinks had not been able to shed. Undaunted, the pilot reached out with both PPCs at the Mad Dog. Whether it was the fury of the pilot, pure luck or a quirk in the simulator system, both blasts engulfed the cockpit area of the enemy mech. Turning his attention back to the Kit Fox- Summoner battle, James was relieved to see the Summoner still fairly intact, standing triumphantly over what he could only assume was the remains of the defeated Kit Fox mech.

Drummond came back over the Binary communication channel to regain control of the situation. "Good shooting cadets. Regroup diamond formation and place the damaged mechs in the center of the formation. Continue at best speed to Nav point 2. You are only a few hundred meters from it." James looked down at the map of the area and was surprised that he and his group were so close to the first marker. In all the fighting he had figured their march had stalled at the point of contact, but instead they had pushed on drawing the enemy with them. So far they had downed four enemy mechs and had only lost two. The second Summoner was still standing but was badly injured. The Nova that downed the Mad Dog had only suffered minor armor loss over its right leg. Although he had yet to fire a single shot, James was supremely confident in his Binary's chances at winning the simulation. The enemy was attacking sporadically and had approached from all four corners, which meant they had moved into position long before his Binary had assembled for the long march. Routing them out wouldn't be too difficult, but the uncertainty of their locations had started to put James on edge.

The functioning mechs regrouped with James still in the lead, the Adder and Hellbringer on the left had swung back to fill in the rear gap while the Nova moved into position on James' left rear, taking the place of the fallen Summoner. The damaged Nova and Summoner moved into the middle of the group to gain some protection.

Moving at near top speed the remaining mechs of the cadet Binary moved off to their navigation points. They reached and passed through point 2 without any further sign of the enemy. Magscans and thermals revealed nothing. Visual was clear out to the simulated horizon. Point 3 was slightly east of point 2, so the mechs had to slow just slightly while turning to the new heading. The Adder bringing up the rear had reported a contact but it disappeared before they could get a positive ID. Drummond sounded pleased at their performance to this point as he ordered them to spread out to 50 meters between each mech to expand the detection radius.

As they marched on in silence James began to wonder where the other six opposing mechs were. In a straight up fight they would be no match against his eight mechs but this simulation had been everything but normal. Aside from minor quirks in their actual combat these tactics seemed almost un-Clanlike. Normally pilots would identify themselves, issue challenges and combat against that pilot. So far they'd had no warnings of attacks, only mechs stepping out in front of them, or missile launch klaxons in the target's cockpit.

James began to cycle through a mental list of possible tricks that were about to be played on him and his team. His Binary originally weighed in at 555 tons and knowing that the groups were evenly matched in combined weight meant that 6 mechs at a combined 380 tons still awaited him. A quick set of mathematical calculations ran through his mind, and James surmised that he was likely facing a star plus one of Summoners, and Hellbringers. He knew he was going to need to use maximum range to prevent a wholesale slaughter of his Binary.

As James' mech crossed over the halfway mark between points 2 and 3 the computer picked up a new contact directly ahead of him. Adjusting his scanning equipment, it seemed that the new contact was parked directly on the third nav point. The computer was unable to determine the size or class of the mech at this range and it almost seemed confused about the information it received.

James opened a frequency to the Binary and reported the contact. "I have a contact at Nav 3. Undetermined class at this time. Will advise." James tried a few more adjustments, but the computer was still unable to narrow down the possibilities. Rather than blunder into an unfavorable situation, James reduced speed to give his computer some more time to sort things out. He pumped up his visual magnification to the max power and could make out a mech-sized blob on the horizon but that was it. This could be a large iron deposit for all I know, he thought.

* * *

Mikel reached behind him and thumped Sabian soundly on the back. "I think your twist on this simulation is about to be unraveled."

* * *

"Contact. Directly behind us. Looks like a Summoner coming up fast." The Adder pilot reported from the rear of the formation. Before James had a chance to resize his online map, another contact was reported.

"This is Hellbringer Beta. I have another contact that is not the Summoner. My scans report that it is a Storm Crow."

Followed right behind that was another report. "This is Nova Charlie. I have a Storm Crow approaching this side too."

Three enemy mechs were advancing from where the Binary had just passed and a single contact sat at the next nav point. James ran another check on the unknown contact, but still the computer refused to identify it. Something was very wrong.

"This is Nova Alpha. I have confirmed the contact at Nav 3 to be a Kit Fox. All units proceed best speed to Nav 3, and we will make our stand there."

The damaged Nova that was nestled in the center of the formation rocketed past James' mech at top speed well before James could counterman that order. The Nova on his left and the Hellbringer on his right had just begun to pass him when the computer chimed a positive ID on the contact. James blinked a few times before he believed the readout. His hands flew to the comms switch to call back the units. "All units return to the formation now!! That is not a Kit Fox!! It is a Dire Wolf!!"

All three mechs that had passed James came to a screeching halt at the mention of the 100-ton assault mech's name but it was too late for the Nova. It had already breached the Dire Wolfs long-range weapons arc.

* * *

Sabian laughed heartily. "You were saying something Mikel?"

* * *

Four beams of red energy raced out of the distance and blasted directly into the Nova from the Extended-Range Large Lasers of the Dire Wolf. Armor plates melted off the left and right legs of the Nova, leaving steaming puddles of machine on the ground. The supports in the right leg that held the 50-ton mech upright collapsed under the intense heat of the beams and the mech began to fall to the ground. Before it hit the dirt, four slugs of Autocannon-5 ammo fired in Ultra-mode slammed into the upper torso and right arm tearing off plates of armor. Following close behind that was ten Long-Range Missiles. Five tore into the already damaged right arm like a pack of wolves and ripped the support structures to ribbons forcing the arm to wrench itself from the socket. The other five bore into the weakened chest crushing the fusion reactor shielding.

James covered his eyes from the intense light of the reactor going critical and detonating within the mech. Parts of the Nova were tossed about in all directions. Suddenly the trick revealed itself to James. The Kit Fox had parked right in front of the shutdown Dire Wolf, and was running over its maximum output masking the Dire Wolf from detection. The reactor output of the Kit Fox had hid the Dire Wolf even from Active Probe detection and a member of the Binary had just paid for the deception. James realized now that he should've listened to that nagging sensation in the back of his mind.

James shifted and pivoted his mech on the right foot to turn around to deal with the other threats against the Binary first. No one mech would be able to defeat the Dire Wolf, but if enough mechs were left it would have quite a fight on its hands. The Hellbringer had begun to retreat backwards and was now off to James' left. It continued moving away from the formation. James looked down at the scanner display and saw the enemy contact it was headed for. The Nova from the rear of the formation was moving to engage a Storm Crow that had popped up on sensors. The damaged Summoner stepped up to the front of the pack with the other Nova to block the advance of the Kit Fox and Dire Wolf pair. Behind them the Adder faced off against an approaching enemy Summoner, while the third Hellbringer prepared to take on the last enemy Storm Crow. This was an all-out show down of superior forces with the larger force slowly being surrounded by the smaller one. The only advantage James saw for his Binary was that the Dire Wolf was still parked out at maximum range. As long as it remained in that position the remaining enemy mechs could be dealt with. With the threat of utter chaos erupting around him, James keyed up the Binary channel and took command of the situation.

"All units engage your targets! Bring them down quickly and then regroup to attack the Dire Wolf. Stay far enough back from its long-range weapons."

The order released the units of the Binary from waiting any longer and like unleashing a rabid animal, weapons fire ripped savagely across the desert and raced towards the encircling attackers. Severe damage was dealt on both sides during the first few volleys. On James' right the Nova, still in ineffective range, lost all the armor on its right arm and took a critical hit to the medium laser housed there. The Adder took a near-crippling blow from a Gauss Rifle round in the chest while hitting the left arm and left leg of the Summoner it faced. Off to the Adder's right, the Hellbringer burned off all the chest armor of the Storm Crow and damaged part of the engine shielding. James watched the other Hellbringer on his left step backward out of LRM range and trade PPC blasts with the second enemy Summoner. The enemy Summoner weathered the assault to its left arm and torso, however the Hellbringer lost the armor protection on its own left torso and the ECM Suite housed there suffered irreparable damage. The damaged Summoner behind James, also playing the range game, lashed out a PPC blast with its good right arm at the Kit Fox before it could close to Gauss Rifle range. Unfortunately the erratic movements and maximum range caused the PPC beam to go wide of the intended target and it attracted the attention of the Dire Wolf pilot who had now started a slow walk forward. The Nova and Summoner pilot began to back away, maintaining the necessary distance from the range of the assault mechs weapons.

Meanwhile, James had taken the time to carefully line up a shot on the Kit Fox. The Summoner's PPC shot went wide and cued James to fire. He stabbed down on the thumb triggers counting on the Targeting Computer to assist his aim for the maximum range. He watched both beams slam into the light mech as the wave of heat began to dissipate from the cockpit. He whooped at the damage readout on the Kit Fox. Both beams struck the torso, eating through and destroying the right side and blowing off the arm that held the Gauss Rifle. In addition to the loss of weaponry the mechs footing appeared wobbly, a sure sign of gyro damage.

The pilot of the ECM-less Hellbringer welcomed the heat of twin PPC blasts while the Summoner answered back with a flight of missiles to pair with its own PPC shot. The anti-missile system of the Hellbringer eliminated over half the missiles from the air leaving the rest to explode on the arms, shredding armor plates like confetti. The PPC blast melted the rest of the armor and internal structures of the left arm dropping it lifelessly to the ground. The unspent energy of the shot burned off some armor on the adjoining left torso section. As violent as the damage to the Hellbringer, the Summoner got the worst part of the exchange. The first ER PPC blast ate through the left arm, eliminating it. The second blast burned a large diameter hole where the cockpit used to be. The loss of pilot input from the mech stopped it cold and it fell backward spewing smoke from its wounds.

The Nova pilot was running at full speed directly at the Storm Crow. It was still out of range for its ER Medium Lasers, but the wild gait of the hunched over mech allowed for only one of two Large Lasers shots from the Storm Crow to connect. Molten armor bubbled down the left arm leaving droplets like a trail of breadcrumbs behind it.

The Adder lashed out like a dying animal throwing everything it had, spiking the heat levels beyond operational levels. The Summoner's right leg bore the brunt of the large laser, the medium laser and an Autocannon slug, while the last medium laser slashed over the already weakened left leg armor. The pounding of the lower extremities and massive armor loss to the right leg of the Summoner threw off the pilot's aim severely as the Adder pilot watched the silvery Gauss Rifle round sail far over his head. The familiar click of a newly chambered Autocannon round produced an evil grin on the face of the pilot as the Adder spat death once again. One of the ER Medium Lasers missed but the other stripped the remaining ferro-fibrous armor from the left arm, exposing the internal structures and myomer muscles to the simulated air of the world. The Large Pulse Laser danced red dots across the left arm stripping away armor plates like the bark of a dead tree. The Autocannon slug resumed its assault on the left leg armor blasting away all but the last few panels of protection. The Summoner pilot was fully aware of its wounds as it ripped the air with another hastily aimed supersonic gauss round. The Large Pulse Laser stitched a dark furrow across the Adder's right arm but failed to phase the machine. If the Clans believed in a higher power, the Adder pilot was certainly offering homage to it with the utmost urgency. Fighting back the Adder closed the distance and let loose with a second Alpha Strike. Its chest was scoured black by a medium laser. The right arm of the Summoner suffered worse as it now dangled unresponsive at the side of the machine. It hung by the last of the myomer muscles that afforded it movement. A silvery flash of light behind the right leg signaled that the Autocannon had breached the armor and destroyed a jump jet thruster. The light mech's luck was slowly running out as the Summoner buried a nickel-titanium gauss round through the right torso armor. Fluorescent-green blood spewed forth from the gaping wound as a double heatsink died in the hit. Leaving off one of the ER Medium Lasers, the Adder returned fire for what the pilot hoped was the final time. The Autocannon round slammed full force into the shoulder knocking the right arm loose and crushing some armor plates. As a testament to the toughness of the heavy class mech, the medium laser and large pulse laser removed more armor from the Summoner's chest but failed to penetrate to anything vital. By this time the mechs had closed enough that the Summoner was able to bring its Short-Range Missile system into the fray. The ground erupted in a hail of dirt and rock as the gauss round landed short of the Adder, but it did little to help as six missiles leapt from the shoulder-mounted tube launcher. One of the six overshot the top of the mech, but 5 landed dead on the paper-thin center armor. Heat readouts from the mech jumped into the danger zones as the engine shielding gave way to the massive warheads atop the missiles. The Summoner stepped up to deliver the final blow to the machine that could no longer bring all its weapons to the fight. The faceplate covering the cockpit of the Adder fell forward with a quick flash of light, and the command couch sailed skyward, safely ejecting the pilot from the dying mech. Had the Summoner not suffered as much damage to its legs the pilot might have kicked the empty mech in frustration.

The enemy Storm Crow facing the Hellbringer was also suffering under tremendous heat strain. It had lost all its central armor long before it made it into effective firing range and the damage to the engine shielding was not helping its efforts at all. The Hellbringer turned its body to the right aiming the left arm weapons pod at the charging mech. Feeling like slow motion the Hellbringer watched as the Storm Crow moved closer. Then without any further hesitation the coils around the ER PPC housing glowed white, and an azure lightning bolt lunged from the left arm, and burrowed itself in the chest of the Storm Crow. Pure white light poured from the gap in the chest armor as the PPC bolt destroyed the fusion engine, effectively ending the life of the enemy mech. Feeling good from the quick kill the undamaged Summoner moved off to face the Dire Wolf.

When the first weapons contact between the Binaries was made the scouting Summoners took heavy damage. The full missile volley of a Mad Dog destroyed one, but the other had taken to the safety of the center of the Binary formation. Now it faced off against another of its kind that just came from dealing with the now defunct Adder mech. Keeping with the fast paced motion of the battle, 15 LRMs shot from the first Summoner and 12 pummeled the enemy mech to the ground. Ten missiles blasted the right leg clear off the mech, while the other two slammed it backward to the ground. It never even had a chance to fire back.

While all this was taking place, James had finished off the Kit Fox by staggering the PPC shots that stripped the rest of the limbs from the light scout mech. With one more mech down he began to move to the right circling around to the Dire Wolf's left, but still maintaining the needed distance to avoid being targeted and fired upon. The Nova and Storm Crow had actually managed to destroy each other after the battle wound down into a Circle Of Death. This left the Dire Wolf pilot facing three undamaged mechs, two heavy and one medium, as well as two heavily damaged heavy class mechs. Unnerved by the unfavorable odds, the pilot continued its slow walk toward James and the remaining units of the Binary. None of the opposing mechs wanted to tangle with the single assault mech, let alone face the humiliation of being handed a sound defeat before getting any viable shots off. As the lone mech moved forward the two Hellbringers tried to corral the mech away from the Nova. It appeared they were moving to sacrifice themselves by damaging the Dire Wolf enough to give the Nova a fighting chance.

Suddenly four red beams lashed out between the two mechs and stabbed into the damaged Summoner waiting in the background. Two played over the right arm slicing it and the PPC from the body of the mech with surgical precision. The third beam burrowed through the last internal structures of the left torso destroying that section and eliminating the last offensive weapon available to the Summoner. Showing the ferocity of the mech the final beam lashed all the armor from the cockpit. James winced. On a head hit, the simulator pods tended to shake a pilot around like a bug in a jar.

"I am cadet Lawrence. I pilot the Dire Wolf at the end of the field. Your forces have been destroyed and you alone cannot defeat me. Accept my offer of hegira, and we will all walk away victors. Decline it, and you will all die by my hands."

James was shocked to hear the offer to end the simulation honorably. He knew the pilot was right; there was no way to defeat that mech one-on-one without taking severe losses in the attempt. A melee would surely spell disaster for the lone pilot, but no one was going to risk reprisal from his or her training officer on that issue. James decided that this was as good a time as any to get out of this pod and talk to some of the other cadets about what they might have done differently given the opportunity to replay this mission. Just as James was about to accept the offer another voice cut in on the line.

"You pilot the most devastating mech in the arsenal of the Clans, and yet you back down from the final kill of your prey. You dare associate yourself with Clan, quaiff?"

James knew the voice right away. "Shut up David. The foundation of the Clans is built on survival of the fitest. Throwing yourself at that Dire Wolf would be a waste. But if you want to do it, do not look to me to stop you from being so foolish."

David turned his Hellbringer at James' and continued to rant. "You are as spineless as he is James. You are not fit for leadership. You should be sent to the labor castes and be forced to repair the mechs of the Galaxy I intend to command."

"David you are as pigheaded as they come. Are you so blind as to see the outcome of your words? Do you now realize that in honor combat we cannot defeat that mech in these Hellbringers? That assault mech would toss all of us aside like scrap paper and still hunger for more. If you have a death wish, do not include me in it."

James was ready to blast David himself instead of Lawrence at this point. He hated having to mince words with David because he never listened to reason. He always used brute force when simply a little bit of brain was required. James was now torn between accepting the truce or blasting David away. The sound of a growl over the comms quickly decided for him.

"I withdraw my offer of hegira. If you two will not fight, then you will both die!!"

The four Extended-Range Large Lasers were paired up in each arm of the Dire Wolf. While listening to the two squabbling cadets, the assault mech had quietly moved close enough to guarantee all four hit their mark by splitting the shots between them. Two lasers boiled armor off of David's right arm, and punched through a kink in the center armor but luckily struck nothing internally. James fared worse as both beams lashed all the armor from his right torso and tore the Streak Missile launcher from its mounting brackets sending it crashing to the ground. James whirled his mech around to present his undamaged side to the Dire Wolf, as he tried to make sense of this predicament. James wasn't sure why the other cadet would break zellbrigen and fire on two targets. It was definitely not going to look honorable when this was over.

Then it hit him. Honor was the reason for the attack. Neither James nor David accepted his offer of hegira or turned to challenge him. And because they had ignored him, he was well within his rights to declare the duel void and attack them both. James marched his mech around to the left of the Dire Wolf, while David held his ground in front and lashed back with both ER PPCs. One beam went wide, but the other scored a hit across the right arm of the Dire Wolf. Satisfied he'd moved far enough out of the Dire Wolf's firing arc, James then fired at the Dire Wolf with all three ER Medium Lasers. Two beams ripped at the armor on the left leg and arm, but for all the armor the assault mech carried it merely shrugged off the attack. Since James had moved, Lawrence turned his full attention to David's mech. The Autocannons clicked over into Ultra mode as gouts of fire and metal rained from the barrels in the arms. Twin slugs slammed into the Hellbringer, tearing armor plates from the left arm and right torso.

In just a few short steps James had maneuvered around the Dire Wolf's left and placed his mech behind the arc of weaponry that could be used by it. He used the Targeting Computer to ensure the shots counted for all they were worth and then let loose with both ER PPCs aimed at the beast's left side. Two tons of metal were peeled from the left torso and leg and the residue of the beam's energy blackened the paint job over the adjoining sections of metal. David broke into a run in the opposite direction of James around the Dire Wolf hitting the mech with some of his lower heat-based weapons. Two Medium Lasers played over the left torso and arm of the hunched-over mech while four of six Streak Missiles blasted ruts into the chest armor.

Lawrence ignored David's change in position and turned his attention to James, launching a volley of missiles from the top mounted LRM rack. Instantly the Hellbringer's head mounted AMS system barked to life eliminating four missiles from the sky and leaving one to shoot straight up with a malfunction. The remaining five slammed into the right arm. James checked the damage display and was not happy seeing that he only had a paper-thin layer of armor left on the right arm. He switched off one of the ER PPCs and toggled in all three Medium lasers.

A bolt of azure lighting extended to the Dire Wolf like a whip and melted a ton of armor from the left leg. Three green beams boiled and burned armor from the left arm, left torso, and center torso. Since the Dire Wolf turned to face James it had placed David in its rear arc. David lashed out with everything he had at the back of the mech in an attempt to breach the rear armor. The first PPC blast stripped all the remaining armor from the left arm of the Dire Wolf and fused the breach mechanism of the Ultra Autocannon in that arm. The second beam ate what little armor remained on the left leg and blew out the foot actuator. The three medium lasers hit the right leg, center torso, and left leg again. The first two simply stripped off more armor and failed to do anything more than cosmetic damage. The hit to the left leg skipped past the phantom armor and skewed the lower leg actuator crippling the mech further. David's mech slumped forward as the heat levels crossed the meltdown mark and the computer automatically shutdown the mech to give it a chance to cool down before it detonated, fried the pilot or both.

Lawrence seemed impervious to the massive punishment the two were dealing him as he turned the Dire Wolf a step and rotated the torso to bring the left arm and torso weapons to bear on David's overheated mech. Standing still was never a good thing in a mech battle, but what was even worse was overheating and having your mech shutdown. Two ruby beams skewed from the stubby arms of the Dire Wolf and stripped all the armor from the Hellbringer's left arm while fusing the shoulder joint. The last of the armor protecting the center torso was also destroyed touching off the Anti-Missile system ammo. The resulting explosion was channeled out the rear of the mech by the CASE equipment and left the center torso bare on the back.

Below it's Large Lasers the Dire Wolf's over-and-under configuration revealed two Medium Pulse Lasers. They spat out dual beams that connected with the Hellbringer's left arm, one melting internal structures and blasting the arm free at the shoulder socket and the second gouging yet another rut over the right torso. A volley of 10 missiles leapt free of their holding tubes and raced toward the slowly dying mech. All ten enveloped the right side of the Hellbringer in a massive fireball that threatened to consume the entire mech.

Thru the smoke of the extinguished flames James could make out the Hellbringer lying face first on the ground. Both of its arms were missing and smoke was pouring through the numerous gapping holes in the chassis. James realized that he was next in line for that fate and he began to triggered off both ER PPCs, aiming them directly at the pristine right side of the Dire Wolf. James realized just what good condition the Dire Wolf was still in when the blasts that tore in the right leg and right torso failed to stop the beast from turning back around to face him.

He was busy trying to keep his mech on its feet when the four Large Lasers of the Dire Wolf flashed to life and burrowed through the Hellbringer's left torso destroying that section. The other missiles hit with precision, blasting free the left arm and eliminating the ER PPC's and the three Medium Lasers it held. James whipped the only weapon he had left around to face the Dire Wolf. The beam ate hungrily at the armor covering the chest of the mech and left steaming piles of molten plates at its feet. James could swear he heard Lawrence laughing as the Dire Wolf stabbed out one last time. Then everything went dark.

A white glow began at James' feet and slowly worked its way up over his entire body. He could feel himself cooling down in a rush of air and fluids as his body seemed to be floating upward. He unbuckled the safety straps of the command couch and hopped out the of simulator pod before it had even finished descending on the hydraulic lifts.

James blinked rapidly as the bright lights of the simulator ready area took a second or two to adjust for. Olivia greeted him first followed by a rather stern looking David.

"Well, at least he got all three of us. Now I do not feel so bad getting picked off like that," Olivia said.

David sneered, "I would have felt better had James here not botched up the duel and allowed him to fire on both of us."

James shot back, "Sure, like you would have lasted any longer in there going one-on-one with that Dire Wolf David. You are lucky he let us both take him on. Maybe our last Nova will have a chance now."

David's voice rose up a few notches in volume. "You got in my way, surat. I would have been able to take him down easier had I not had to worry about you and your crazy aim."

James put his hand up in front of David's face and stopped the verbal assault like it was on a switch. "David I have no time for you right now. If you think you could have done better then go find a simulator and prove it to me with the printout of your victory. Until then, your words mean less than the air that carries them."

James pushed past David as his face became flush with a series of reds and purples. Olivia patted James on the back in a congratulatory fashion as the two walked off watch the end of the match and witness the ones to come.

"Hey Olivia, did anyone find out who that Mad Dog pilot was? They were one sharp shooter with that missile boat."

Olivia smiled at James. "Yeah, it was Cadet Laura of the other sibko we fought. She is from House Gallagher and she seems to be rather wiry but obviously very calm and focused in a mech."

James winced as he worked out his shoulder muscles. "Focused is an understatement. If we ever return to the Inner Sphere I pity wasting any freebirth that takes her on one-to-one."

Cadet Training Grounds

30 Kilometers West of Barcella, Hill 328

Kerensky Cluster, Clan Nova Cat Home World

15 Mar 3048

1300 Hours

The sun was just reaching its apex in the sky when Mikel reached the high point of the hill. In the eleventh year of his youth, his sibko trainer began running them out to these hills. He enjoyed the benefits of his stamina, which allowed him to finishing the run in much better shape than some of the other wheezing cadets. Many times he defeated the challenges of other cadets by completing the course before they did. He found physical competition much more enlightening than physical confrontations. It wasn't that the "might makes right" rule didn't hold much weight with him but he saw it more beneficial to exploit the weaknesses of his opponents first in order to defeat them.

"Perhaps I should have been more overzealous in my battles. Then maybe I would not be stuck here nursing these stravag brats," he thought to himself as the last cadet entered the grassy hillock where he stood. He remarked that the geneticists must have been hard at work because it was becoming more and more difficult to stay a step ahead of the new cadets. If they were getting used to his rigorous training regimen then he would need to work them even harder. Especially, since their Trials were only a few weeks away.

Mikel's commlink beeped to life on his hip just as he was about to order the cadets to their feet for the return run. He turned from the group as he flipped it open and answered the call. "Drummond here…Aff sir…. Aff sir, he is…Understood sir…. Thank you sir…Drummond out." He casually closed the commlink and placed it back in its holder. Scanning the horizon line in front of him he stretched his arms up over his head to loosen up his shoulder muscles. He spun on his heels with the furry of a storm about to unleash its awesome power and barked the order for them to get on their feet.

"Get up now! I want those packs off your shoulders and I want you to raise them over your heads with both arms. If I catch anyone slacking their pack I will make them re-run the course with two. One for each arm!"

He marched over to where they were frantically stripping off their gear to prepare for the run back. "Cadet James! My location, now!" he yelled.

James scrambled to the front of the pack, his gear already held high over his head. "Cadet James reporting as ordered, Galaxy Commander." Mikel snatched the gear from the cadet's hands. A haze of confusion and fear washed over James' face as the Galaxy Commander began to don the gear. "You have earned a treat today James. Galaxy Commander John Rosse requests your presence. Report to his office in the Command Building at once."

James looked bewildered and looked to Mikel as if to ask a question.

"What are you waiting for James? Get going! You had better beat me back to the base or I will have you running this course for the rest of your short, insignificant life!"

James eyes grew wider as he realized the seriousness of the threat. James took off running down the hillside as quickly and as carefully as he could. Mikel watched him hopping down the hillside and chuckled to himself. He called out after James, "And just to make it interesting, I am ordering the rest of the class to pursue you, catch you and trample you!" And with a flick of his head Mikel called out the final order of the day. "Move it!!"

Nova Cat Military Head Quarters,

Planetary Command Center

Barcella

Kerensky Cluster, Clan Nova Cat Home World

15 Mar 3048

1500 Hours

James had been left standing outside the Commanding Officer's office for about thirty minutes now. Without the burden of his training gear strapped to his back he had made the run back in just over an hour and a half. He might have been back sooner if had not fallen down the last 4 meters of the hill he began from. A light bruise was forming on his left cheek as a reminder of the incident. He was just thankful that he was able to get back on his feet before the Galaxy Commander and the rest of the screaming cadets could reach him.

During the run he had begun to contemplate why he was being called to the Command Building. Maybe someone had something more to say about his little incident two weeks ago in the simulators. Maybe a slot for a Bloodname had come up. No, that wasn't possible. He wasn't even a warrior yet. Maybe it was to talk about his upcoming Trial of Position. Then again, maybe it was something he didn't really know about. The thoughts had bounced around in his head for long enough that he pushed them aside and focused on getting there quickly. The only thing that he had concluded would help would be to get there quicker. After a few more minutes of standing there a voice behind the door broke the silence.

"Cadet James, do come in."

James swallowed the lump in his throat and dismissed the butterflies in his stomach as he opened the door. James walked into the room and immediately was taken aback by the impression it gave off.

Against the right wall was a shelf system that stretched from floor to ceiling, the length of the office, and was filled top to bottom with books and manuals. The back wall held another shelf system but this one was more for decorative purposes. These shelves were clear, made of glass-like materials and held several smaller objects, a few holoshots, and two miniature models of old Star League-era Battlemechs, a BLR-1G BattleMaster and an ON1-K Orion. James noticed that the Orion was painted in the olive-drab scheme of mech that was used by General Kerensky when he took down Stephan the Usurper in 2779. A small twang of sentimentality trickled across his thoughts as he took in all the details of the miniature representation of the mech used by the man that saved the Star League Defense Force from certain destruction at the hands of the Successor States of the Inner Sphere.

On the left, Galaxy Commander John Rosse sat behind a large wooden desk. The desk itself spoke volumes about its owner. The wood was polished to a healthy shine. The large black marble top that composed the working area contained several piles of paperwork and a full-sized noteputer terminal. Rosse was currently reviewing something on the terminal and had not diverted his eyes to James yet. James closed the door behind him and stood at attention in front Rosse.

"Cadet James reporting as ordered Galaxy Commander."

Rosse simply nodded in acknowledgement of the cadet's presence in the room. He finished scanning through the words on the screen, made some notes on a pad of paper and placed his pen in the desk drawer. Killing the power to the terminal he turned to James. Like laser beams his deep blue eyes scanned the cadet. Rosse's black hair was buzzed short, a style he favored to give better contact to the sensors in a mechs neurohelmet. A streak of white ran the along the right side of his head, a sharp contrast to the black and a common sight on all Nova Cat warriors. It was their way of paying homage to the Clan's namesake. It also happened to be a genetic trait.

The springs in the chair groaned in protest as Rosse leaned backwards. The black leather command jacket he wore squeaked softly against the leather of the seat.

"At ease Cadet." Rosse spoke in a soft voice.

James took the command lightly and merely relaxed his stance allowing for deeper breaths to be taken. Rosse continued to look the dirty youth over all the while making mental notes. The motive behind this meeting was still as illusive to James as when he was summoned.

Rosse sat up in his chair and leaned forward on the desk. He placed his elbows on the black marble and folded his hands together on the smooth surface. This time in a significantly louder voice he asked, "Do you know why I have called you here, quineg?"

James shook his head, "Neg, Galaxy Commander. Galaxy Commander Mikel Drummond informed me on the field that I was requested to appear before you."

A predatory grin registered on Rosse's face, "Good. Then you have no more information than I at this time. My commanding officer called to meet with me at the same time you were sent to my office. Perhaps this has something to do with your upcoming Trial of Position, quiaff?"

"Perhaps, Galaxy Commander." James replied in a wavering voice. Rosse chuckled slightly and opened his hands in front of him. "Relax Cadet James. You have nothing to worry about. Please have a seat. The rest of our company will be here shortly." Rosse motioned to his right. James walked over and sat on the sofa that was against the wall. He had just started to relax and become comfortable when a knock came at the door. It opened inward and blocked his view. With his eyes unable to catch a glimpse his ears took over. He heard two pairs of footsteps enter the room. Rosse rose to his feet to greet the new arrivals and James quickly sprang to follow suit. James snapped to attention as he recognized the face of his Training Officer. Apparently, he had made the run back with enough time to get cleaned up and change into full military dress wear. Mikel wore his black leather command jacket with standard black body armor beneath giving off a false appearance of size. A Nova Cat emblem blazed in the center overtop an orange and blue star. Combat ribbons adorned the left sleeve and his command rank and unit were clearly visible on the right. As surprised as James was to see Mikel he was even more taken aback by the second individual who entered.

A woman slightly taller than Mikel stepped into view and shut the door behind her. Her hair was shoulder length, a light shade of brown. A larger white strip down the right side. Instead of a field command jacket like the other two Galaxy Commanders, she wore a charcoal colored jumpsuit made of leather. A black leather belt cut her suit in half, wrapped snugly around her waist and fastened with a distinct Nova Cat head on a silver buckle. Draped from her shoulders was a floor length white cape framed in both a yellow-orange and a red stripe.

James recognized the woman from holovids but never expected to meet her in person. She walked over to the desk and extended her hand to Rosse.

"Galaxy Commander John Rosse, Commander of Beta Galaxy. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Rosse greeted her with a hearty handshake and smiled back at the woman. "Oathmaster Biccon Winters. It is an honor to have you here."

Rosse turned to Mikel and likewise shook his hand. "Good to see you again Mikel."

With the salutations over, Mikel turned back to the Oathmaster and gestured towards James. James felt a lump rising in his throat that was threatening to cut off his voice. Oathmaster Winters walked over to James and stopped in front of him. James starred back at her with awe, all the while wondering what the outcome of this meeting was going to bring.

"I can see a strength in you Cadet. Mikel was correct to bring you to my attention. But you are still just a kitten, young and impressionable. You require training and discipline if you are to become a more powerful warrior. Do you know what I speak of Cadet?"

The Oathmaster's eyes seemed to glow with a force James had never seen before. It was if they pierced his very soul and looked directly at the things he had never told a soul. It was obvious the rumors of Oathmaster Winters being able to see things ordinary Clansmen were rumors no longer.

"Neg, Oathmaster Biccon Winters. I know not of the request for you to meet me. I am but a Cadet, longing to become a warrior. What interest would I hold for you?" James' voice wavered in pitch from word to word, placing his nervousness on display for the world. Oathmaster Winters immediately saw the cadet's anxiety, and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Relax Cadet. Come, let us sit. I have a story to tell all of you that will shed some light on this situation."

Mikel grabbed a chair in front of the desk and turned it towards the sofa. Rosse returned to his position behind his desk. Oathmaster Winters motioned to the sofa and James turned around and took the same place he occupied before they had entered the office. The Oathmaster moved towards the center of the room starring up at the ceiling to gather her thoughts.

About a minute had passed when she turned around and faced James. "Cadet James, you are aware of the book The Ways of Seeing, quiaff? It is a book written by the great Nova Cat Khan Sandra Rosse as a spiritual guide for the members of our Clan to understand the mysticism in their lives. In it she describes the mystical experiences of herself and her mother. It also outlines rituals that warriors can perform to gain those same benefits in their own lives. Today you will leave this office with a copy of this volume. I realize that this is not the normal procedure but Galaxy Commander Drummond and I feel that any further procrastination would result in a negative effect on you. So, you will get this now, instead of after successfully passing your Trial of Position to become a warrior."

"Now, let me quell any thoughts you may have, that you are weaker than the others. This could not be farther from the truth. Galaxy Commander Drummond approached me several weeks ago after he observed a special ability about you. He describe your abilities to master situations without having gone through them before and without knowing what the the destined outcome. This ability is called luck by the other Clans but James, I call this ability the gift of sight. You are aware that I along with many other Nova Cats possess the gift of sight, quiaff? It is this gift that allows us to become masters over all that we survey because we know how our actions will affect the balance of the universe. We have visions that when interpreted properly, will show us the way that was set down by The Founder. You have been in my visions and I believe it is time for you to awaken your gift of sight and take your rightful place in the Clan."

A look of amazement washed over James' face. His arms felt like two tons of dead weight attached to his torso. His chest tightened and his eyes shifted back and forth as if he were reading over a document that contained the facts the Oathmaster had just presented him. The gift of sight. Not every Nova Cat had the gift or had a great command over it like the Oathmaster or the Khans, yet here they were, telling him that he had it. And they wanted him to master it sooner rather than later.

James coughed as he tried to find his voice. "Oathmaster Biccon Winters, forgive my disbelief but how can you be sure that I possess the gift of sight? A warrior must be trained in the gift before he can begin to use it, so how can you see it in my actions?"

Mikel shifted in the chair he sat in and responded to the Cadet's question.

"I first noticed something a few months ago, but I dismissed it because as you said, a warrior needs to be trained to use this gift. As it became obvious that it was more than just mere coincidence I took a more intensive interest in what was really going on. Do you remember the simulation where I challenged your reasons for striking your opponent with your own mech, quiaff? I reprogrammed that mission before you entered it. I set the mech to receive a certain amount of damage from you and then to charge your mech to knock you over. I watched your simulation with great interest to see how you would fair against my changes. I fully expected you to be thrown about by the impact and be aggravated enough to dispatch the simulated pilot. Instead I was treated to a sight that I could only conclude was enhanced by your ability to see the attack coming before it even happened. By some inner sense or premonition you were able to defeat the simulator with much less damage than I had pre-determined you to absorb. It was after this that I contacted the Oathmaster to find out what I can do about you."

"In the Binary simulation I saw it happen again. I could see everything as it played out and watched as you tried to discern what mech was at the third Nav point. Their tactics fooled your mech's scanning equipment but not you. Were you fully trained in seeking visions your troops would have not, jumped the gun so to speak."

James straightened up as he listened to his Training Officer's observations. A sudden rush of pride filled his chest and flushed his cheeks to a crimson hue. He had felt a strange sensation during the last couple years of training. He refused to mention it for he feared it was some kind of weakness that would eliminate his chances of becoming a warrior. Now he had just found out that these feelings were going to make him a better warrior than he had thought possible. If he was to use this gift wisely, he could know his enemy's tactics and movements long before they would. Victory would come easily for a warrior like him. This was something very good indeed.

"So you see James " the Oathmaster's words broke into his thoughts, "you have been watched for some time now to determine if any further efforts were required of us to nurture your talents. Do you have any questions about what you have been told?"

James pursed his lips together and thought about the past few minutes. He nodded his head and spoke slowly to allow time to forge his thoughts to words. "I understand your role in this Oathmaster, and I can follow where Galaxy Commander Mikel Drummond comes in at, but I am not sure I understand why we are in Galaxy Commander Rosse's office."

The sound of squeaky springs chimed in the air as Rosse leaned back and chuckled at the cadet's words. "You show a good grasp of your surroundings James. I like that. If I were a betting man I would say that you will be under my command after your Trial of Position, and knowing now about your gift will allow me to make provisions to place you in a Command Star for my Galaxy. Am I correct in my conclusions Oathmaster Winters?"

A warm smile spread across her face as she nodded once in agreement. "You are a perceptive man. James will do well under your command. Now then James, there are some things that we must explain to you about how you will learn to use your gift. Your 21st year is coming to an end in two months time, so we have little time to spare to have you prepared for your Trial of Position."

Khan Sandra Rosse Cathedral, Hall of Records

Barcella

Kerensky Cluster, Clan Nova Cat Home World

4 April 3048

0800 Hours

James sat in a quiet corner of the room. Stacks of books were piled four or five high surrounding his place at the table. Here in the Hall of Records one could find solace to study for pending Trials or to catch up on the history of their Clan. It was no small coincidence that the Hall of Records resided in the Sandra Rosse Cathedral. After all, she was the one that took over for her aging father and set down many of the policies that governed the Clan today. It was also Sandra who had documented the mystical visions and the rituals that were still in heavy use.

James had been under constant supervision over the past two weeks by both Oathmaster Winters and Galaxy Commander Drummond. After learning that he possessed a strong mystical sense, similar to the meditation induced visions that the members of the Nova Cats had, he was besieged by volume upon volume of written text on every ritual and vision ever known in the entire history of the Clans. It was through these texts that James would gain an understanding of where they came from and what their purpose was in the universe. The only thing he was gaining today however, was a larger headache. He tried to continue reading through the old works but his eyes were loosing focus on the page causing the words to blur together.

The book spewed forth several years worth of dust as he forcefully slammed it closed. He coughed in disgust at the material that seemed as if it was aging before his very eyes. He pushed his chair back from the desk and got up to leave but left his coat and the books were they lay. This would be his first break of the day. It seemed that preparing for the Rite of Seeing took up more time than training for a Trial of Position. And it was certainly not any more stimulating than he'd imagined. Pouring over volumes of text and scrolls in an attempt to understand something described so vaguely was not his idea of enhancing his warrior skills. Perhaps a morning session with the Oathmaster to discuss some things he had read would help to clear his mind.

James crossed the unoccupied room and left through the front doors. The sunrise had almost finished through its cycle of pink and purple rays as it climbed higher into the sky. The last of that morning's color show was reflecting off the marble columns where James now stood. The Cathedral was one of few buildings in the city that was made straight from the natural resources of the planet. The tallest point stood roughly six stories high and the entire frame of the building was solid marble, including the decorative columns that lined the front. Several steps lead up from the sidewalk and ran the width of the building.

The streets were busy today as merchants and Clan officials moved about on their daily routines. Small groups of warriors bustled about talking of battles they'd fought in or wished they'd had. In the distance you could hear the rhythmic pattern of marching sibkos at the training centers. James knew he was behind in his physical training but Drummond had been understanding about it and offered to help catch him up in the off hours. Today's roster held one of those sessions in its schedule.

James was mauling over a reason to run around the block real quick when he heard a familiar voice call his name."Hey James, where have you been?" it called out to him from street level. James looked over and saw David, the self-appointed leader of their sibko class. Around him stood a group of about eight other sibmates, including Olivia. She waved to him in a slightly hidden fashion.

James bounded down the stairs and joined the group. "Hey guys. Where are you all off to today?" James asked to no one in particular.

"We are off to the arcade and then we are heading back to the gym before dinner," replied David for the entire group. "Do you want to come along or are you going to play with your books some more?"

Although members of the clans were genetically engineered to have only those traits necessary to make the strongest warrior it was not possible for the scientists to prevent what they considered "useless ones" from seeping through. David's engineering obviously failed to filter out his known sarcasm. Something that often left him out of the good graces of the Training Coordinator.

"Funny David. It so happens I am studying to enhance my mental ability as a warrior of the clan. A true warrior must be both physically and mentally strong to survive."

James let a small smile form for he knew a war of words with David would grant him a smooth, easy victory. To James, David was as mentally competent as the workers that fed them their meals in the dining hall. And as if to solidify James' theory David stared back at him with a look like something invisible had slapped him across the face.

"Are you mocking me surat?" David said straining to use all the bass in his voice. He pulled his right arm out of the jacket sleeve and rolled back the cuffs of the undershirt he wore, exposing his arm to the shoulder. "Warriors like me," David flexed his bicep for the group, "will always defeat surats like you James. You think too much to win a fight." David finished his rant by pointing his finger at James.

"I will remember to remind you of that fact when you pack your gear in the middle of the night because you failed your Trial." James taunted back.

"Are you challenging my ability to lead, quiaff?" David replied through clenched teeth.

"Neg David. I am simply suggesting that there are some skills in which you may lack a sufficient grasp. I do not think that you cannot lead. I mean, they appointed Sarah McEvedy as a Khan, so I know there is hope for you yet."

Sarah McEvedy had tried to take her Clan and secede from the rest of the Clans many years ago. Such an event was unthinkable and highly unacceptable to the Clan Grand Council. A Trial of Annihilation was declared on her rogue Clan and they were ultimately destroyed. In addition to that, their genetic material was wiped out and their name stricken from all existing records, hence they were referred to as the Not-Named Clan.

"Your show of humor is unbecoming of a warrior James!"

"Your lack of intelligence is unfitting of a surat David!"

"Your lack of respect for authority is unacceptable. I will see that you get nowhere in this Clan." David shot back.

"Oh you should talk. I have it from good authority that your freebirth parents left you at the gates of the city and you were taken into this sibko class as an example of how not to grow up!" James countered.

The hours of study and training had frazzled his nerves to the breaking points. David seemed to know all the buttons to push but James was not about to be walked over today. Today it was time to fight back.

David appeared more agitated by the freebirth remark than ever before. In Clan society reproduction was done at the hands of the scientist caste. New warriors, or sibko, were grown in giant metal vats after having their genetic code spliced together. Sibkos that came from the vats were known as trueborns. It was the way of the Clans to breed stronger and better warriors through genetic manipulation. Free-birthing was a disgusting habit that only the scum of the Inner Sphere and those of lower castes still practiced. Calling a trueborn a freebirth was the lowest insult you could give. David pushed his way through the group and stopped nose to nose with James. Being raised from the same genes allowed for many similar physical characteristics in a sibko but in this case David stood 4 inches over James. Their eyes locked together for a few tense seconds.

"I will not stand by and accept your verbal assault on my character, my honor, and my leadership James. I challenge you to a Trial of Grievance. Our sibko will form a Circle of Equals here and now. I will show you that I am more than capable to deal with your intelligence James. I will make you realize how you underestimate warriors like me."

James glared back at David, giving as good as he got with an even icier look on his face. The group fanned out in a circle around the two boys forming a barrier between their conflict and the outside world.

James pointed a finger at David's chest "I accept your challenge. It is time someone brought your ego down a notch or two." The two parted from the center and headed to either side of the circle to begin the Trial. James pulled his sleeves up past his elbows and bent to relace his boots tighter.

David spoke as he was working on the second shoe, "As leader of the sibko class, I must remain in my top form to respond to my duties with vigor and supreme effectiveness. Therefore," he said with a smirk, "I invoke the right to choose a representative to fight in my stead. Cadet Olivia, you will be my representative at this Trial."

James sprung to his feet with a look a shock upon his face and shouted in unison with Olivia.

"What?"

David stood at the other end of the makeshift circle with his arms folded across his chest. A smug look was etched on his face. "You heard me surat. I choose Cadet Olivia as my representative in this Trial."

James clenched his hands into tight fists and snarled at David. "You can't do that David. This is between me and you."

David chuckled lightly to himself. "I outrank you, therefore I can. Olivia enter the Circle of Equals and defend your sibko captain and his honor from this surat."

James stood there motionless, practically frozen from the turn of events. His eyes shot over to Olivia, back to David, and back and forth once more. He shook his head to dispel the perplexity that David thrust at him. "No, David. You will not cheat me of a chance to set you on the right path. I challenge you to a Trial of Refusal over your choice of representative. I will not let you back out of your initial challenge to me. This is between you and me."

David threw his head back and laughed abruptly. "I think Cadet James is afraid of females. Is this true James, quiaff?" James shuddered slightly as a chill ran down his spine. David had outwitted him. He could not refuse David's choice of representative but he really didn't want to fight with Olivia. He needed to goad David into changing his mind.

"You dishonor yourself with this show of cowardice David."

David thrust a hand in the air. "Enough! You will not stall any longer Cadet. Either accept my choice or accept your failure in this Trial and the dishonor that will accompany it. Olivia step in to the circle now!"

Reluctantly Olivia stepped into the circle, pulling off the jacket she'd been wearing since she got dressed for the day. Underneath the jacket she wore a simple mulberry colored tank top tucked into her charcoal pants. James shoulders sagged as he sighed. "When I am through here there will be nothing to stand between you and me, David. You will pay for this deceit."

Olivia snorted at James' remark. "I stand in your way James. And I will not be as easy to bowl over as you think. Your quarrel is with David but you must get by me first."

Olivia crouched down into her fighting stance and began to sidestep to her right around the inside of the circle. James watched her circling in front him. His blood was boiling with rage at having to fight his closest friend. James wanted nothing more than to smash David's face in but he knew had to get around Olivia first. It was going to be difficult to not inflict too much damage to her because she loved to tussle. And she was very stubborn. James stopped circling and stepped directly across at Olivia. She was ready for his advance and launched a swift front kick at his midsection with her right foot. James caught her foot between his left arm and body. He took a step back to unbalance her and raised his right arm back to bring it down on her face. She took that split second delay when he raised his arm and jumped up, kicking him with her free left foot right below the rib cage. James yelped more in surprise than in pain as her foot forced the air from his lungs. The kick caused him to release her right foot while she was still in mid-air and sent him back a few feet. Olivia, now with both feet free, came crashing back down to the street from her horizontal kick maneuver. James seized the opportunity and jumped directly at her sprawled body.

Olivia rolled out of the way towards him as his boot slapped loudly on the ground. James's back was now facing her right side as she lay facing him from the ground. Using her hips, she snapped a kick to the back of his knees with her left leg. His entire world was flipped upward as his legs were knocked completely out from under him. He landed flat on his back beside her, her legs scissored around his. She twisted her hips back to the left, brought her leg in and tucked it along side her placing her knee on the ground. Sitting up using her left arm and left knee as leverage, she pulled her leg free from under his, and shot a kick to his forehead as he began to sit up. She let the momentum pivot her around on her knee and rose back to her feet at a safe distance from James. James rolled over onto his stomach and pushed himself back to his feet. He brushed the dirt off his face from where her boot heel connected to his head. He stretched his arms behind him and rocked his head to work out the muscles in his neck. He finished his brief stretch and brought his hands around to the front. He motioned his hand at Olivia to bring the fight to him.

Olivia felt great right now. Already landing three blows to James, she was sure he was getting tired. Her legs felt like giant springs ready to launch her into another attack. She wanted to beat James down for being so dismissive at her being chosen for this Trial. Then she wanted to pound David to a bloody pulp for putting her on the spot against James. She began to think of her next move when James motioned for her to continue. She lunged forward faking a front kick. He backed up to avoid the kick and she closed the gap, bringing her right foot up for a roundhouse to his head. James must have anticipated the feint because he stepped forward into the kick blocking it with his right arm. Before she could bring her leg back down to escape James drove his left knee in to the back of the leg she was now standing on. Her leg gave out like a severed support beam and she crumpled to the ground again on all fours with James now behind her. James took the opportunity and bent down over her. He wrapped his arm around her throat and hauled her back to her feet. She wrestled for an inch of room around her neck as her tongue lashed out for the air James was denying her. James was no longer fighting Olivia in his mind. He had expected to defeat her quickly using his strength and then turn his attention to David. But she had proved to be more agile and cunning than he thought and she was dragging this out longer than he cared. First David outwitted him into this sham of a Trial and now she was showing a serious effort to win it. He focused all his anger into one place and he wanted to leave that place a total ruin. That place was now wrapped in his arms.

Olivia gasped for a breath that would free her but James was not letting up. A sudden realization rocketed through her mind that James might not be trying to knock her out by cutting off her air. In all his anger and rage he might be trying to kill her. She leaned forward, trying to stretch out of his grip, but he didn't relent. Not wanting to let her go James started to arch back, pulling her up off her feet. She used the lift to her advantage and drove her head back into his face, smashing against the bridge of his nose. James spun her half way around and released his chokehold. He drove his left knee into her sternum and shoved her to the ground. James struggled to stay on his feet, while staring through the stars caused by the head butt. The blood flowed from his nose and dribbled down his face to his chin. The shooting pain in his face and head was starting to make him nauseous. He turned back around to find her making her way to her feet. She was holding her stomach and looked as if she was still trying to take deep breaths.

James brought his fist up to a guard position and staggered over towards Olivia. She raised her left arm and kept her right over her midsection, likely protecting a bruised area. As the two closed the distance, James made the first move. He lashed out with a strong left hook to her jaw, snapping her head to the side. She whipped back around quickly and drove her left fist into the spot under his ribs where she first kicked him. James began to falter under the hit but drove a lightning quick one-two shot into her chest driving her back a few steps. After a lot of concentration she was able to gain her balance and managed to stop moving backwards. It looked as if her legs were about to fail her. Her arms hung limply at her sides as she swayed in place, all the while trying to maintain the balance she had just struggled to find. James rushed forward, his right fist raised high to deliver the final blow.

Summoning her last bit of strength Olivia leapt into the air. She spun into a backside kick which once again found James' head. Unable to stop in time he took the full force of the kick to his right temple. Sparks of pain shot through him. His drive was gone. The energy of her kick flung his body laterally. He fell to the ground and rolled twice stopping on his back. Olivia crashed back down, her boots and bones smacking on the street. Neither combatant moved except for the heaving movement of their chests trying to gather air and recuperate from the inflicted damage. None of the other sibkos moved to help them. It would be a violation of the Circle of Equals to render aid to either of them.

James felt like his head was in a cloud as he lay there on the ground. It looked as if the sky above him was spinning counter-clockwise. He couldn't take a deep breath because of some hidden weight on his chest. His body seemed unresponsive to his will to get up and finish the fight. Olivia was not faring much better. The lack of oxygen during her choking had made her dizzy as well. Landing on the ground from such a height, twice now, had contributed to the spasms that were now working their way up and down her spine. A slight popping sensation was all she felt when she hit and she knew right away she'd slipped a disk or two. She tried to move but the pain was more than she could bear. It was all that she could do to turn her head and watch to see if James moved to finish her off and claim victory.

Still, none of the others spoke. They watched the two try to regain their posture and keep on fighting. No one was rooting for either of the two but then no one wanted either to loose. David crossed through the circle and stood in the center eyeballing the two combatants.

"Is this the best that our sibkin can give us? Both warriors fail in achieving victory because they have disabled each other? This is a most pathetic display of skill and athleticism." He stood between them with his fists resting on his hips. He looked down at the both of them for a few seconds and then stepped over top of James grabbing the collar of his shirt with both hands. He pulled him off the ground to bring him closer to his face.

"Perhaps I should have taken you myself. I over-estimated your skills James. This whelp did no more to you than you did to her. There can be no trade off of damage, there must be room left for victory."

He paused for a second and continued, "I can still claim victory. As the challenger, I take my place back from my representative. I will continue in this Trial." David released James' shirt from his right hand, and brought his arm back preparing to mash his fist into James' face.

James eyes went wide with alarm. His second wind hit and he swung both his hands up, slapping them around David's ears as hard as he could. David released his grip on James and stood straight up howling in pain. James took the opportunity and drove the tow of his left boot straight up into David's groin. David's howl became a gasp of escaping air as he pitched forward at the waist. James caught David's upper body with his right boot and pushed flinging David off both legs and sending him backwards. David's body spun wildly as he hit the ground and rolled through the boundary of the circle.

James sat slowly up and rocked back on his hands as he stared at David. He forced a smile when he realized he used David to break the circle. James was the victor now. Two of the five cadets holding the circle shouted cheers at James. James winched a bit as he rolled over to where Olivia still lay face down on the ground. Touching her shoulder he quietly asked, "Are you alright Olivia?"

A small smile ran across her lips as she grunt an affirmative at James. He chuckled a bit as her stubbornness shone through the pain. "Well, it looks like I finally get to say that I beat you, once." he joked with her.

"Beat me? No, James. My position in this trial was revoked when it appeared I could no longer combat against you."

Her voice sounded hollow and her tone was even colder than the ground she lay upon. She had been chosen to fight against James and she only succeeded in allowing herself to be taken out of the match by her sponsor. She knew her physical pain would heal but the knowledge of her inability to finish what she started would tarnish her mind forever. James carefully cupped his hand under her arm and slowly lifted her off the street.

"Come on now. Let me take you to the infirmary and see if they have anything for wounded pride."

Forest of Revelation

Barcella

Kerensky Cluster, Clan Nova Cat Home World

27 April 3048

1900 Hours

James felt as if he had been walking for hours. He looked down at his chronometer to see what it read and had to bring it closer to his face to make it out as the last glimmers of light began to fade. Noting the time he figured he had about twenty minutes of fleeting daylight left before having to setup camp. He would need to locate the correct spot to perform the Rite as instructed by the Oathmaster two days earlier. He had begun hiking to this location over sixty hours ago. Exhaustion was foremost on his mind as he began a twenty square meter search area. While looking for a small clearing he recalled what the Oathmaster told him before he left.

James had to spend two and a half days awake, spending no more than two hours at one time to rest. He was to head off on a journey to pass that time, during which he was to reflect over the volumes of recorded visions he had read and contemplate his place in the Clan. When he reached the spot where he would perform the Rite he was to clear a circle and construct a fire within it. He was required to memorize a passage from the Rite of Seeing. He would have to chant this passage to focus his energy into the vision and bring it to fruition. Once the vision was over James would be brought to the office of the Oathmaster and they would interpret it together.

James came to the clearing before the last bit of light faded. He brushed aside some sticks and leaves and drew a wide two-foot circle on the ground using his fingers. Gathering up some leaves, he placed them overtop of a flat section of wood he'd found. He grasped a second thicker branch in the palms of his hands and began rubbing the two together. In a few moments the heat generated from the friction of the two sticks caught the leaves on fire. James stoked the small flame and built it larger, adding more leaves and finally placing a few of the larger sticks into the pile. In a short time it was giving off plenty of heat and light. With the fire set, James sat back from the circle and reached into his pack for the ceremonial garments he was given. He dressed quietly, listening to the fire as the logs burned, the moisture inside the wood hissing into steam and the sap boiling and popping from the heat. No other sounds could be heard from the woods around him.

He knelt down in front of the circle he had drawn. He closed his eyes and made a circular motion with his left hand over top of the flames. He spoke out loud the words he memorized from the Ways of Seeing:

Flames grant sight

To eyes wide shut

Visions unfold

Purified in soul

James repeated the verse three more times and continued motioning over the flames. A sudden increase in the roar of the fire instinctively caused James to pull his hands back and open his eyes. He watched as the orange and yellow flames were swallowed from the ground up by blue. The blue flames held tiny sparks within that seemed to dance wildly in the air. He had become mezmorized by the fire.

Quickly a sound came from behind. The sound of growling. He spun to locate the noise and noticed that the flames were bathing the surrounding area in blue irridescence. He blinked his eyes to adjust to the color of the blue light and took a moment to survey the area. He could not see any trees nor the sky above him. A large red sun hung low in the sky but cast no light. He brought his attention back to his immediate surroundings and turned to look for the source of the growl he had heard. There was nothing except the fire. Looking up again he saw sky filled with stars begin to form and reach out as far as he could see, connecting with the ground at some far off horizon. Diverting his attention downward he noticed he was no longer standing on the dirt of the clearing but rather a surface that looked like water. His bent to touch to ground and his fingertips rippled the surface. The rings grew outward and disappeared from his view. When he pulled his hand back his fingers were dry.

The water was all around him now, not just under him, but he couldn't feel it soaking through his clothes. Looking down he could see the water descend quite far. There was even schools of fish swimming about. This was a most peculiar vision, James thought to himself. The the growl sounded again, closer. James froze this time, hesitant to search for the creature making the noise. The growl continued for a second more and began to transform to a sound more like laughter.

James turned from the fire, curiosity overcoming fear, and spotted the source. A large log, long since dead from whatever tree it fell from lay suspended in mid-air about a half foot from the surface of the water. It was about six feet in length and angled up at one end. Lying on the log, obviously not concerned with James' presence, was a rather large nova cat. It stared off at some unknown point in the sky, lazily flicking it's tail in the water. A low purr resonated from the large animal and it yawned showing its pink tongue and large, razor sharp teeth. The cat licked at its left paw and began to groom itself. James stared blankly at the creature, amazed at its bizarre behavioral display. James thought that this was one weird nova cat.

The cat stopped what it was doing and starred directly at James as though he had spoken out loud. The animal sat up on the log and in a voice that was familiar it spoke to him.

"That would be a valid thought if only I were a valid nova cat. You must not take everything at face value James. It will eventually bring your downfall if you do."

James could swear that the nova cat was grinning at him. He knew the voice but he couldn't remember whom it belonged to. Rather than appear stupid to an obviously intelligent animal, James thought some more dialog might jog his memory. "May I ask a question?"

The nova cat nodded.

"Where am I?"

The nova cat blinked twice, and then lapped that big pink tongue around the right side of its face. "You are where I call tranquility. This is a place where I come to think. And to talk to others."

James could only surmise at this point that the voice was someone important but he still couldn't place it.

"This place may be tranquility but why am I here? This is nothing like the visions I read about in the archives," James asked.

The cat spoke in a serious and even tone, "Again, you must learn to not accept things for how they appear. You must learn to look beyond what is physical. Did you truly expect to just see some images in the fire and be on your way, or are you truly looking for your vision?"

A shiver ran down James spine at the question. The last thing he wanted was to upset the creature and have it leave him there with all these questions running through his mind.

"Forgive me if I upset you. I was just," he paused, looked around and raised his hands, "not ready for this."

The nova cat again nodded at James. It stood up and stretched, arching its back the way cats do. The nova cat placed its front paws down on the water, and proceeded to walk across the surface towards James.

The cat stopped next to James, its tail still flicking the surface of the water. "Your expectation of this Rite shows your youth and inexperience. But your conduct speaks volumes to me about your future as a Nova Cat warrior. Do not worry about upsetting me James. In my day I had many that did not understand my ways of thinking. It took sometime for ideals to play out. And in fact, you are part of the results."

James' eyes went wide at the last words from the cat. It all connected now. This place, this animal, its words. James snapped his fingers and pointed at the cat. "You. You are The Founder. You are Nicholas Kerensky."

James excitement of figuring out the enigma of the talking nova cat played off his face like a dazzling light show. Just knowing he was sitting in the presence of the great Nicholas Kerensky, the creator of the Clans, was awe-inspiring.

Nicholas the cat took a step back to look James directly in the face. "You are learning already James. You now know who I am. But there is little time, and you have many questions for me."

James forcefully swallowing the lump in his throat and continued. "Aff, I do. I have so many questions. But where do I begin?"

The cat circled to the right in front of James and flopped down on its left side. "Look into your heart James. Start from there."

James could feel the pounding of his heart in his chest. It felt like a time bomb ticking down to detonation. He was sure that any second his body would be blown apart by a tremendous explosion. The thought of his exploding body brought about thoughts of his own death. He then knew what his first question would be. "How can I serve my Clan better?"

Nicholas' cat eyes absorbed the question. A few seconds passed before the answer came. "You already are on a great path to serve your Clan James. But you must learn to adapt to the times. Things will not always be as they are now. I have seen that in my journeys here. You must help those that refuse to change or they will die. And so will your Clan."

James was shocked to hear the words. The Nova Cats die? How could that ever happen? We are part of the mighty Clans. What could possibly kill us? The questions began to flash through his mind like a barrage of missiles.

"Arrogance," spoke Nicholas. "Remember why my father brought us here. It was to protect the denizens of the Inner Sphere from using our might to destroy themselves. I created the Clans to prevent us from destroying each other. We are not here to judge the wrongs and rights of those before us but to return the universe to a peaceful state of prosperity. We are here to protect those that want our help. Remember that much and you will go far in your Clan."

James was not sure what all this talk of protecting people meant. He was trained to be a warrior, not a guardian. "But Nicholas, the Clans are made up of fierce warriors. How can we be expected to protect when we have spent a lifetime training for battle and conflict? Peace is not something I feel we can all achieve. It's not something we can all live with."

"Peace will come at a price James. Sometimes that price will seem like too much to bear, but that is the way it will be. This is why we must learn to adapt. Survival depends on it."

Nicholas' voice had a tinge of fear locked deep inside it. It was as if he had seen the future, knew what was going to happen to the Clans. This made James hesitate. He felt the fear behind the words and it worried him. He wasn't sure if he wanted to learn much more. He wasn't sure if he was prepared enough to know the future.

James just sat there looking at the cat. This news felt like several tons of weight now resting upon his shoulders. "Am I to protect the entire Clan from all that is to happen?"

"No. But your actions will benefit the Clan. I have foreseen it. Your greatest challenge has yet to show itself to you James. You have much time to grow before then."

James took comfort in Nicholas' words. The fate of the Clan was not set.He did however, understand fully that he alone might be the key to averting any disaster that might befall them.

Just then something snapped in the background. The nova cat sprang to its feet and stared off into the distance. Sensing the threat, the hair on its neck stood on end and it unleashed an unholy growl from the pit of its stomach. It stood there for a minute, and then with a mighty growl leapt back over to the log it first appeared upon. Just as the quickly as the cat leapt to the log it began to shift in shape. The up-turned part began to split and form into a head and mouth. On the other end it began to stretch out and grow into a thin, long tail. The changing log grew four limbs to stand on and the now completely formed head began to stretch upward.

James didn't recognize the new creature as it stood there with Nicholas riding high on it's back. It had begun to take on an emerald green color and shiny scales took position on its skin. It head towered over James and bore a mouth full of jagged teeth. The tail of the green monster swished back and forth behind it, sending waves of water in all directions.

James was frozen in place, barely noticing that the flames of the fire were dwindling and the light it gave off was coming to an end. The new creature lowered its head toward the ground and belched a mouth of red flames directly past James. The flames were mere inches from him but emitted no heat. As the flames roared past he turned to see their target. He peered over his shoulder just in time to see another cat like animal leaping at him from a distance. This one was covered from head to tail in gray fur. And it was heading straight at James. All four feet were tipped with razor sharp claws and its mouth was wide open, ready to clamp into flesh. Saliva dripped from its teeth.

The cat was about to land on him and tear him to shreds when the blue fire flared back up. The blue flames collided with the red flames from green creature and together they engulfed the airborne assailant. A rather unsettling screech emanated from the fireball and a giant flash of light blasted outward from the center knocking James backward about five feet. His head hit something very hard when he landed and disorientated him briefly. After he shook away the stars in his eyes he looked at where the fireball last hovered. But he didn't see the charred remains of the cat that for an instant, looked like the totem emblem of Clan Smoke Jaguar. Instead he stared up at the face of Oathmaster Biccon Winters. A white hood covered her head letting her brown hair poke out from places the wind had plucked it from. The body of the robe hung loosely off her shoulders. She placed a hand firmly on James' shoulder, silently letting him know that everything was all right now. James shook his head to confirm he understood her intentions and then leaned back to catch his breath. As the air passed in and out of his nostrils, James could detect the faint smell of burning flesh and meat.

Oathmaster Biccon Winter's Office

Barcella

Kerensky Cluster, Clan Nova Cat Home World

10 May 3048

0600 Hours

A little more than a week had passed since James experienced his dramatic vision in the forest. During that period he had spent an enormous amount of time with the Oathmaster interpreting what happened. Normally analysis sessions did not take this long but this was no ordinary vision. The Oathmaster had reminded James of that several times already.

They had taken their time to carefully reconstruct the vision step by step, making sure to make note of the tiniest details. Missing anything could lead to the wrong conclusions. Plus the Oathmaster seemed rather disturbed at the mention of the "need to adapt" from the vision of Kerensky. When James sat and told the story the first time through she appeared very pleased to find out the image of the nova cat was Nicholas Kerensky. The fact that James never met the man before didn't seem to bother her much. When James explained how Nicholas fought in union with a new unknown animal against the smoke jaguar, she became apprehensive. Apparently was an unsettling vision to her.

After they had it recorded accurately enough for her to review the Oathmaster dismissed James to give herself time to reflect on the vision. He was instructed not to think about it too much as it might distract him in his upcoming Trial of Position. She would let him know what she thought in due time. From that point on, James spent all his available time training for the upcoming Trial of Position.

When the day of the Trial arrived, he was summoned to the office of the Oathmaster early in the morning. When he arrived she was thumbing through a book in her hands. The dark circles under her eyes revealed that she had been researching the vision constantly since James last saw her. She motioned him into her office and directed him towards a chair near her desk. Piles of papers lay strewed about and the terminal on the desktop was currently searching a database for some information. James sat himself down and watched the Oathmaster pace back and forth across the room as she intently scanned the text for something. The terminal beside James beeped as it concluded its search.

"James would you pull down the search results, and open the first item, and read it to me?" she said without looking up from her book. James replied "Aff" as he twisted the terminal screen around so he could see the data listed on it.

"It is a ancient Terran document, Oathmaster. It is titled 'Myths and Legends'. This specific section found in the search is focused on something called 'Dragons'."

The Oathmaster spun on her heels as she paced back to her starting point, still buried in the book in her hands. "Good James. Now bring up the image for the text and tell me what you see."

James scrolled across the screen and clicked on the option to display the associated image for the dragon piece. An audible gasp escaped past his lips as the picture developed on the monitor. James stood straight up from the chair, pitching it over onto it's back.

Pointing a finger at the screen, he hissed, "That is the other creature in my vision! It is a dragon!"

On the screen sat frozen a drawing of a twisting green and red dragon, spewing forth flames from its mouth and nose. The Oathmaster stopped in midstride, and turned to James. Her face scrunched up and she rubbed her left temple with her hand. An eerie silence blanketed the room. With just her one hand the Oathmaster snapped the book shut, visibly startling James. She tossed the book on to the desk, scattering some of the looser documents about.

"Our situation is this James. Your vision is two-part. The first part, dealing with understanding the true nature of things, and learning to adapt to them is for you. The second part with the dragon, the nova cat, and the smoke jaguar, connect to a vision of my own and have shown me the missing piece to an enigma I have been working on for some time now. You must go now James. Today you will fight to claim your place as a warrior of Clan Nova Cat. All will be foretold in time. You will know when to adapt."

James nodded at the Oathmaster and raced off to get ready for his big day.

Cadet Mech Hanger 03

Barcella

Kerensky Cluster, Clan Nova Cat Home World

10 May 3048

0800 Hours

The cadet's mechs were stored in a hanger, seperatly from their opponents. This was to prevent either side from knowing what they would face. Too much information before the fight would lend an unfair advantage to the trainees. It would not benefit the cadets to know the weapon layout and configurations of their opponents. In actual battles you didn't know what you faced until it fired at you. It would be the same here.

The hangar was large with twenty mech bays. Each bay could accommodate a mech of any size from the 20-ton scout mechs to the 100-ton assault mechs.

Every mech had it's own appointed tech staff to oversee it's upkeep. Everything from general maintenance to a major overhaul and even weapons loading was done by the techs. A warrior's job was to focus on the impeding battle. And right now that's not what James was doing.

James stood in center of a hangar that housed ten bays on each side. A long walkway ran the length of the bays. This was commonly referred to as the runway although aerospace units were never permitted. Several techs were still scurrying about, finishing the final preparations on two of the four remaining mechs in the hangar. One of the senior techs was screaming orders for parts to a Stormcrow in Bay 12. A warning klaxon was sounding over in bay 18 as a Summoner was taking its first steps out of the bay and onto the runway. Red and yellow lights flashed outside and continued down the runway alerting people to the mechs movement from the building. James smiled as he watched the humanoid machine walk towards the door and continue on to the designated engagement arena for the pilot. The sight of a mech in action always refreshed his sense of pride for being Clan. If there was a better life out there in the universe, James figured he'd never want to know what it was.

He turned and looked up at the Omnimech he was given for his trial. Clans referred to their mechs as Omnimechs because the weapons systems that they used were easily interchangeable allowing the mech to adapt to any situation it faced. He knew the mech by sight. He had piloted this model several times in the simulators. Short and hunched over, the cockpit jutted out over the body. The legs connected to the center of body and arms spread from the hip joints, giving it a very low profile. The arms ended with individual hexagonal boxes, six ports on each. He knew each port housed an Extend Range Medium Laser for a total of twelve in all. This was the mechs primary configuration and by James' reasoning, its most deadly. No one liked facing down a Nova equipped with such a fatal array of lasers. The only downside to the number of weapons was the massive amount of heat they would create. He would have to arrange his grouping carefully to avoid forcing the mech to shutdown in the middle of a firefight. His senior tech stood by the right leg of the machine holding a cooling vest. All pilots wore cooling vests to prevent boiling themselves to death in the confines of the cockpit. Massive cooling units known as heat sinks ran throughout the body of the mech but they also pumped cooling liquid through connection tubes to the vest to provide a bit of relief from the temperatures they'd have to endure.

James walked over to the man and took the vest from his outstretched arms. While he removed his jacket and flight suit he talked briefly with the tech.

"Today is a good day for a battle, quiaff?" It was common for senior techs and their pilots to converse lightly before going of to battle. It was viewed mainly as tradition although some saw it as a good luck ritual.

"Aff James, it is."

James nodded at the response and looked up at the mech. An old Terran saying, a warrior sees beauty in his eye, popped into his mind. It was in one of those dusty books he had to read during his training. The saying he was thinking of now might not be completely accurate because he never remembered the readings in much detail, but if one could qualify beauty in the same category as dangerous, then you could say the Nova was a beautiful mech. James noticed some extra tubing running back from the arms into ports on the body. He looked back at the tech with a raised eyebrow, "Extra heat sinks I presume?"

The tech let a sly grin escape his control, "Aff sir. I figured in the Prime configuration you would need all the heat control you could get your hands on. You can drill into someone with all but two and still stay standing, grinning back at them."

James smiled back at the man and nodded with vigorous agreement. "Indeed I shall Senior Tech."

He turned and placed a hand on the ladder that lead up to the cockpit. He placed his foot on the bottom rung and started to pull himself up. He stopped his decent and had one last look about. Over his shoulder he asked a final question of the tech. "Do you know where Cadet David is today?"

The tech looked at James then down at the note puter that was hooked to his utility belt. "Yes James. Cadet David is not paired with you today. He is over on the Plains of The Hopeful Phoenix."

"Good." James grunted.He continued to climb up to the cockpit. This morning he knew his biggest threat was somewhere else.

River of Blood (Proving Grounds)

Barcella

Kerensky Cluster, Clan Nova Cat Home World

10 May 3048

1000 Hours

There were many arenas where Trials of Position were fought for initial Blooding. Blooding was the rite where a cadet fought against other Blooded warriors to ascend from the cadet to warrior status. Trials were fought in mechs, the cadet against three others. Defeating a single mech would grant them status as a MechWarrior. Defeating two would increase their rank to Star Commander and give them command of a Star which consisted of five BattleMechs. If the cadet were astute enough to defeat all three of his opponents, then that warrior would obtain the rank of Star Captain and would be given command of a Trinary which had fifteen Battlemechs.

Trials were fought under the strictest rules of honor combat. No mech was permitted to fire at another that was already engaged in fighting. Once a mech was defeated the victor could then go on to an unchallenged opponent. These rules were known as zellbrigen. Warriors had been known to go to great lengths to maintain these rules. In the event the zellbrigen was broken, the match would then become a melee or a free for all. Cadets were usually tested two at a time. Neither cadet was forbidden to attack the other's opponents but this would also result in a melee.

An increased number of targets meant an increase in rank for every kill over the initial three. It was how ever, very rare to make it through the initial three battles and survive to make additional kills.

James sat in the cockpit of his Nova facing west and reviewed his readouts for what seemed to be the hundredth time. His particular Trial would not start until all the mechs were in starting position. He reached his starting point about five minutes ago and powered down his mech to low levels in anticipation of the starting signal. Olivia was on trial this morning as well and had already continued on to her location just on the other side of the ridgeline to James' north. A wide open area separated the two engagement zones.

James dismissed the idea of creating a melee as it would be extremely difficult with no cover to guard his mech while crossing the plain. He was about to run another system diagnostic when a loud authoritative voice boomed over his internal speakers.

"Welcome Cadets to your first Trial of Position. Today you will fight to claim your place as a warrior in Clan Nova Cat. Cadets are reminded that you may end your Trial at any time by shutting down your mech and exiting it. To achieve MechWarrior status you must defeat one opponent mech. To achieve Star Commander status you must defeat two. Achieving Star Colonel status means you have defeated all three of your opponents. You will be considered a target so long as your mech functions. When the buzzer sounds the blocking equipment on the field will be disengaged and you will have full control of your mech. You now have exactly one minute to complete preparations. When the first of your three mechs appear on your radar you may begin. May the Vision of Kerensky guide you."

The broadcast ended in a peep of static and then there was silence. James clicked the toggles in front of him to shunt all available power to the fusion engine. He could feel the vibrations of his now fully powered mech in his control sticks. His left stick con-trolled his speed in a forward and back motion as well as turning in a side to side tilt. The right stick rotated the mech in place to offer different angles from the forward facing position but there really wasn't a torso to twist in the Nova. James could rotate the arms away from the body with the right stick giving a chance to strike with the arm-mounted weapons on just that one side. Each stick was home to three trigger buttons for weapons grouping. On a side panel to the left of the command chair ran twelve lines of six toggles. James would use this panel to designate from which group one of the twelve extended range medium lasers would fire. He stared at a surface map of the area as the rest of his systems came to life in the metal cockpit. The only terrain advantages that presented themselves were a pair of high rock formations to the north and north west of his position. A small oasis was flanked by groves of trees in the center of the arena and several other patches of trees dotted the landscape. Everything else was open territory.

James clicked the radar control and set it to maximum range. If something was going to get close to him he was going to know about it first. Right now though, all he had was static from the field blocking equipment. He wrapped both hands around the control sticks, shifted his body as far back into the seat as he could and waited. The buzzer sounded over the speakers. The Trials had now begun. James glanced at his radar screen to find his first target and felt his heart drop to his stomach. Slicing away the static, the radar swept around and picked up a new contact, directly in front of him and less than 500 meters. His head snapped up to look out the front window through the Heads Up Display as the computer cranked away to deliver all the information it could to its pilot. The system instantly tagged the new target as a Gargoyle Omnimech. James' thoughts raced as he calculated all the new information in his head. The Gargoyle out massed him at 80-tons. Its most damaging configuration was the 'A' configuration with a pair of Extended Range Particle Projection Cannons, both of which James was in perfect range for!

His left hand instinctively flew to the weapons control board and pulled down the first row of toggles for a count of seven clicks. He pumped up the magnification of the HUD and squeezed down on trigger one as the arms of his enemy began to raise. A wash of heat blasted through the cockpit as all six lasers from the left arm and one from the right stabbed out in brilliant fury at the target less than half a kilometer away. Quickly, the heatsinks of the war machine pumped cold air into the cockpit and cooling fluid through the tubes on James vest. Flashes blinked from the ends of the Gargoyle's arms as James braced for the impact of whatever weapons configuration it was carrying. He had to fight the torque of the hits as he took two solid iron slugs, one in the left arm and one in the left leg. Looking back at his target, the HUD displayed the last volleys statistics. Four of the seven lasers hit striking twice in the chest, once in the left leg, and once in the right. James' narrowed his eyes and grinned. The Gargoyle was not in the 'A' configuration, but in the Primary configuration. The Primary only possessed a pair of LBX-5 cannons and a pair of Short Range Missile launchers for six tubes each. James skipped the mathematical calculations, as he already knew that the damage-to-weight ratio of this contest was well in his favor. And with that thought he crunched the number one trigger again.

Since neither mech was moving towards the other, each one's targeting computer had less to calculate for a firing solution. The Gargoyle rocked back as four more lasers painted black scars into its right leg, left arm and a then drew a set of parallel lines on the left torso to match the previous center torso hits. His external speakers picked up the whooshing sound of a missed shot, but James grimaced as the left leg took the other round. With a quick glance at his damage readout panel he decided it was time to teach this Clansman how to adapt. James reached over and flicked an eighth laser to group one.

It felt as if his lungs had inhaled pure fire when he unleashed another devastating volley of coherent energy beams. He watched as the Gargoyle pitched and rolled as most of the beams crashed into its chest again. Defiantly the pilot managed to keep his mech upright. It teetered sloppily hinting at a critical hit to the gyro that supported its movements. A pillar of black smoke billowed from the rear of the mech as well. James pulled back on the right control stick to fight off two more hits to his ride side. He wondered if the pilot realized that with an engine hit and a gyro hit it was not going to survive this exchange much longer. As if to answer James' question, the Gargoyle began a lumbering run directly at James' mech. Still suffering from the excessive waste heat of the last volley James flipped three toggles off and fired at the jumpy image before him. The pilot of the running mech showed great skill by firing off two more rounds from his LBX cannons and adding to that, a pair of missile shots from the 6-tube launchers, as he quickly closed the gap between the two mechs.

James watched as the missiles streaked harmlessly past him, leaving contrails of white phosphorus in their wake. The gyro hit and the running had seriously affected the Gargoyle's aim as the missiles had achieved no radar lock before launching and both rounds of the LBX cannons slammed in to the dirt besides the Nova. The Gargoyle came to a halt some 200 meters away as only one of James lasers connected to the left leg, stripping it to less than half the armor strength. Since James had only fired five lasers, the heatsinks in his Nova had cleared away all the waste heat the weapons had generated. All the lasers showed green across the board indicating that they had regained their full capacity to be fired once again. The Gargoyle had moved up to bring his SRMs into range and those missiles could spell a problem if enough connected with the Nova. James clicked two toggles for the weapons in the right arm pod to the number one trigger and took aim.

Like two gunfighters in a showdown both mechs fired at one another at the same time. Cannons belched forth smoke and metal, missiles screamed from their holding tubes and focused energy beams crisscrossed in the distance between the two titans. Missile impact warning klaxons were sounding in the cockpit of the Nova and damage indicators began to flash when the impacts came. The Nova wrenched downward to the right and the dispassionate computer announced a critical hit to the right arm and right leg. James eyes instantly locked down on the system status display, and he breathed a sigh of relief when the readout stayed put at 100% on the internal systems. The concern now was for his mech's right side for the armor on the arm was all but completely gone.

This battle needed to end. James looked up at the HUD display and the computers readouts on the Gargoyle. The heat scanners were almost in the red zone for the mech. A thicker cloud of black smoke had enveloped the mech signaling another engine hit. The weapons readout showed that six of the seven lasers fired hit the target. The armor readout was lit in every section of the mech even the head, indicating armor loss. James needed to end this match now if he intended to go on after this kill.

James radioed a tightbeam broadcast to the pilot in the Gargoyle and offered him hegira. Hegira was a clan term that offered a defeated opponent a chance to end the fight honorably without any further combat or cost. A second or two passed in silence between them. Then James got his response in the form of muzzle flashes from the cannons mounted in arms of his opponent's mech. Both rounds struck the left torso of his mech sending armor fragments splintering in every direction. Again the critical hit warning blared inside the cockpit. As the rocking motion subsided James reached over and flipped down one more toggle to group one, arming a total of eight lasers again.

"Two can play that game," James growled, took a deep breath and unleashed a fury of energy stabbing toward his enemy. As the heat flared up inside the mech, he watched five of the beams punch through the armor of his opponent's torso, and two more wash ugly scars over the left arm and left leg. A single stray shot landed between the legs of the Gargoyle melting sand into burnt glass. The force of the hits knocked the mech backwards a step, the pilot playing hell with an already damaged gyro.

As a testament to his own prowess as a clan warrior, the pilot of the Gargoyle fired both cannons again at James striking with a single round in the left torso.

"I know!" James screamed back at the critical hit warning from the computer, and slapped the shutdown override to off. James squeezed the trigger with all his might and eight beams of light shot out from the arms of his Nova. James had to shake the sweat from his eyes to watch the impacts of the lasers. The humanoid mech twisted and turned as each beam struck. Four beams concentrated on the torso area, burning off any remaining armor there, and stabbing directly into the chest cavity. He watched as a flash of light broke from the top of the mech signaling an ejection, and likely an involuntary one. The death of the assault mech's reactor gestured a single explosion through the chest plate.

As the heatsinks were working overtime to remove the excess heat build up, James breathed a sign of relief. He had defeated his first opponent. And survived to enjoy it.

He scanned over his systems to see how badly his mech had fared. The armor on his right arm had been breached, but all the internal systems and weapons were still functioning. However, a Gribber Monkey from Strana Mechty armed only with a stone could easily destroy the entire arm. James would have to protect it dearly or lose half his available weaponry. The engine shielding was damaged in the left torso, and there was minor overall armor damage. James had finished checking all his systems when a voice came over his headset.

"Congratulations MechWarrior James. Are you prepared to continue your Trial of Position, quiaff?"

James pulled his gloves tighter and adjusted the neural helmet on his head. They had called him MechWarrior. A well of pride bubbled up inside James, and in a calm and serious voice James replied, "Aff, I am ready to continue."

James closed his eyes and concentrated on the sound of the fusion-engine rumbling deep within the body of his mech. The rhythmic vibrations settled his thoughts and the quickened pace of his breathing slowed now to a meditative pace. With a couple of deep breaths James thought back to his Rite Of Vision. This is why we must learn to adapt. Survival depends on it. Those were the words Nicolas Kerensky had said to him. Survival. James opened his eyes and said the word out loud.

"Survival."

James glanced down at his tactical map display and traced the path of the Gargoyle with his finger. In the north half of the arena the ground was cluttered. A pair of high rock formations sat in the northwest and northeast corners. The height advantage might be worth the risk of getting there, but the ground between his mech and the first set of cover was completely in the open. No sense offering an easy target. A small grove of trees was rooted off to his left and was directly inline with a second set of tress and the entrance for James' opponents. James reached down to his radar screen and switched from active to passive scanning. This would reduce the range at which he could be detected by other radar scans. The downside was once the mech was detected he would practically be right on top of his challenger, and at that range there wouldn't be any weapon that couldn't hit him. Grabbing the control sticks James set the Nova off in a medium paced walk directly towards a grove of trees.

He watched a white-breasted bird take flight from a nearby tree as he entered the woods. Then he stared straight out the windows of the cockpit as he guided the 50-ton monster effortlessly through the entangled trees. He had walked the mech inwards about 10 meters or so before stopping to check his scans. He flipped from standard tracking to infrared. Heat blooms from the jungle floor clouded the entire screen making that option useless. Checking the magscan settings, he got the complete opposite. All the shapes showed light blue hues. James sighed as he checked over his weapons display. "At least I am alone in here."

Static crackled in his neurohelmet speakers as a hoarse feminine voice poured over the airwaves.

"You cannot hide from me, young stravag."

James eyes grew wide at the words at the same time an azure bolt of lightning crashed through the branches and savagely tore into the right torso of his mech. The energy of the blast burned away the remaining armor over that section and pooled it into molten slag at the mechs feet. The static charge flashed and burned its way across the mech both inside and out. All James' equipment flickered as it dissipated. A computerized voice stuttered as it spat out a critical hit warning. Without even looking at the readiness display James aimed back through the hole burned in the tree line and fired off anything that would. Six beams sliced out into the unknown, their final targets never registering as a mech chassis. James cursed under his breath at his hastiness. He might have been able to back off to add more cover between him and his unseen attacker, but now she knew where he was. Even worse, she had a target lock on him as he moved through the trees. Perhaps the forrest was not such a good idea, James thought.

He forced the mech to walk forward into the woods, coming to a stop at the edge of the trees. An open area displayed just beyond the spot James nestled in and roughly 70 meters away was another wooded patch. James figured he would exit here and take whatever hits may come, but he could use that other set of trees to mask his mech while he destroyed his second opponent. A sudden squawk of the computer jolted James from his thoughts.

"Enemy detected," bounced off the walls inside the iron basket. Immediately James peered down at his targeting display as it scrolled off the information of his latest attacker. A wry smile formed as James studied the readouts. His second opponent was piloting a 45-ton Ice Ferret and since he was already on the receiving end of its weapons, the computer had tagged it as a Primary configuration. He would have to be wary of that Extended Range PPC. His opponent had already struck him once.

He watched the targeting computer track the possible location of the mech. Triangulating the direction the shot came from, the radar return signal and James new position it kicked back a possible 85% chance of hitting the target. James chuckled to himself, I see you too. James wrapped both hands around the controls and caressed the triggers.

Without even caring that he'd struck with only two of the eight lasers, he sidestepped the mech two paces to the left. With the heat buildup from the laser fire and the damaged engine shielding, he didn't want to be in the same spot he'd shot from. A tree to his left exploded and the sap burned off into vapors as another PPC bolt blasted away James' wooden shelter. He toggled off two lasers to give the mech a chance to shake the heat buildup. He would need everything he had in order to defeat this one. The Ice Ferret was most widely known as a heavily armed reconnaissance mech. Using its speed and agility it could easily coax James into a Circle of Death that he couldn't finish.

This battle was going to be done with cunning, brut force. And a bit of luck. James reacquired his target and set free another blast of ruby red beams. The targeting computer showed where the beams hit in a virtual mock-up of the mech. The right leg and left arm showed minor damage to the armor, but the right torso had taken most of the damage. James wiped the sweat from his forehead as his heat index climbed dangerously close to the red zone. With the heat override still off, James could operate the mech without the constant reminder of the heat buildup, but he needed to get the mech cooler if he was to survive. The mech was powered by a fusion engine and stabilized by a gyroscope but myomer bundles controlled its primary movement. These bioneural strands ran throughout the body of the mech like groups of muscles and responded to the electronic impulses of the pilot's controls. When the heat reached certain levels it would degrade the bundle's sensors and they would become sluggish in their movement. The heat index right now was causing James to fight the controls to keep the mech from collapsing like a jellyfish.

As the heat lowered the controls began to respond faster. James toggled off all but two of his lasers. Movement alone was going to spike the heat and he couldn't afford having the mech detonate because he was careless with his heat management. He pushed forward on the controls and walked the mech out from behind the trees. As he exited he could see the Ice Ferret standing still in the distance, tracking him.

A sparkle of light emerged from the opponent mechs left arm and grew larger as it raced toward him. In a targeting miscalculation the blast slammed into the dirt, spraying rocks and debris in every direction for several meters. James responded, twisting his mechs torso to face his attacker, and clamped down on the main triggers of both control sticks. A single red beam lashed out from each arm of the Nova and trickled a white hot scar into the left and right arms of the Ice Ferret.

James stopped in front of the forest and let the heat levels drop to the lowest they had been since this day started. He braced himself for another volley from Ice Ferret's ER PPC.

The comm system crackled and popped as the voice of the Ice Ferret pilot began to come through. "You hide like the spineless surats of Clan Wolf. To think that some honorable warrior allowed his ashes to be made into a nutrient mixture for your sibko. Perhaps they scraped the bottom of the canister for yours, quiaff?"

The words cut into James like a thousands knives. Never before had anyone ever insulted him to the very core of his being. As a cadet he often endured the jibes and snide remarks of blooded warriors because they were of different castes. It was expected. But as a MechWarrior this was well beyond acceptable behavior.

His blood began to boil and his vision became washed in a tint of red. Enfuriated, James reached over to the weapons panel with his left hand and flipped down a set of eight lasers. With his right he toggled his scans from passive to active.

In the fraction of a second the targeting computers solution jumped from 56% to 92%. James was sure his position was now well known due to the active scans. And with that thought James hammered down on the firing studs. He watched the beams cut through the foliage, burning off leaves and branches too small to affect the energy of the pulse. An abnormal amount of heat washed up into the cockpit of the Nova. With the shielding damaged from his last match the engine was unable to vent the heat through the heatsinks so it leaked into the body of the mech. The temperature was overwhleming and James coughed violently as the machine tried to vent the heat from itself.

Although he couldn't see his intended target, he watched the damage indicator of the targeting computer record the hits. The lasers burned off armor on both legs, the left torso, and scored two hits on the left arm. James let out a hearty "ha!" as he knew the PPC was housed in the left arm of the Ice Ferret.

Not to be outdone by the newly blooded warrior, the pilot of the Ice Ferret responded in kind with her own weapons. A missile lock warning sounded just moments before a bolt from the PPC smashed into the armor plates on the chest of James' Nova. The raw energy of the beam hungrily devoured over half the armor on the chest of the mech. With the sudden shift in weight, James had to fight the controls to keep the mech from falling over on its face. The static charge popped and crackled in James' ears, and the instruments seemed to loose cohesion on the screens. Before the wild ride ended, a pair of white missiles tipped in red paint shot out from the tops of the trees and arced down smashing into the left leg of the mech.

James belted out a primal roar from deep inside his chest and wrenched the control sticks forward to put the Nova into a run. The heat began to build in the engine as he crashed through the trees, knocking over anything in his path. His mech sprang forth from the trees into the open terrain. The maneuver must have caught the other pilot off guard because she didn't turned to face James as he moved in on her right side.

He bore down on the stationary target as fast as his mech would move. The pilot must have sensed the movement to her right because the mech remained in place but rotated its torso to face the Nova. Without glancing at the targeting solution or the fact that with the heat buildup the computer had disengaged two lasers for safety precautions, he clamped down on the triggers, unleashing a burst of hell.

The exchange of fire between the two mechs was more personal to James than just combat. This was a test of his ability to fight and win as a warrior of Clan Nova Cat. This was a test of the beliefs in his upbringing and training. This was a test of every conflict he had experienced up to this point. This was for every single person that told him that he would never amount to anything in his glorious Clan. James channeled all his hate, anger, frustration, fears, joy, pride, and confidence into this volley.

As the first two beams struck the left leg and the left torso of the Ice Ferret, a blast escaped from the muzzle of the PPC and headed for James' Nova. The third medium laser beam from the Nova caught the Ice Ferret's left arm at the shoulder joint and slashed it clean away from the mech. The fourth beam gouged a deep rivet across the cockpit panels as the final beam punched through the armor in the right chest. A thunderous sound crept over the external mics in James' mech as a flash of light appeared to come from the rear of the Ice Ferret. Lost in thought at the sight of an internal ammo explosion, James was unprepared for the impact of the PPC bolt to his right arm. Already devoid of any armor protection, the right arm with all six of its Extended Range Medium Lasers melted away in a shower of sparks and mini-explosions. The loss of the arm to the mech shifted the weight balance over to the left side. Unable to catch the falling mech in time, James thrust his arms out and braced himself against the interior command seat panels as his mech crashed to the ground. It bounced slightly against the dirt and then settled into the cloud of dust it had created in the impact.

Shaking off the feedback from the neurohelmet, he grabbed at both controls and heaved the mech back to its feet. The ferroplexiglass of the cockpit had spidered in several places and a few lights were blown out on the control boards. He looked out at the Ice Ferret that stood only a few hundred meters from him. Small sets of fires were burning on the ground behind and beneath it. The left arm lay nearby and the right arm lay even further away. Apparently the force of the internal ammo explosion had blown the arm clear off the body and scattered it out quite a distance. He held his finger over the triggers of the control sticks, unsure if the enemy mech had any functioning weapons left. Just then static popped over the headset speakers.

"Congratulations Star Commander James. Are you prepared to continue your Trial of Position, quiaff?"

James looked out from the command seat at the sight of his smoldering opponent. A once proud Omnimech now stood armless as small flames licked at its feet. He then looked down at his own damage display. The right arm was completely gone now, and with it half his available weaponry. The left and right sections of the chest had been breached and the center only had a small amount of armor remaining to protect it. Deferring from any better judgment, James quickly ran a full system check. All six lasers were still functioning in the left arm, and the engine would be able to handle the heat buildup from running while firing all of them. If he could keep his aim true then his next victim would fall to him, a superior warrior running with half a functioning mech. The glory and honor would be beyond James' wildest dreams. He could feel the pounding of his heart in his chest as he thought about the next battle. Running and ducking laser blasts as he landed shot after shot on target, and watching the unnamed beast fall before him. His blooded was energetically pulsing through his veins, and he could feel his insides tightening with anticipation.

A flicker of electricity jumped from the end of frayed wires and drew his attention to a control panel. As he reached over to slap down the problem the wires burst in a shower of sparks and mini bolts of lightning that arched to other components. Smoke billowed out from the damaged panel as more cracks sounded. He could see thru the thinning cloud that the sparks had cast shadows that seemed to arc through the cloud in a downward motion towards the exposed wires. As the shadowed arcs reached back toward the wires, more crackling and pops could be heard. James waved his hand to try to dissipate the smoke when something made him catch and hold his breath.

The wires had formed themselves into a tight weave that closely resembled a mech. But it wasn't just any mech. As he studied the image it began to take on the eerie appearance of his Nova, lying lifeless on its side. The arcs formed by the smoke looked like missiles heading in to impact on his mech, and the sparks would occur when the arc would fade into the wires. James clutched at his chest with his right hand and forced himself to begin breathing again, slowly.

He slammed his head back against the headrest a few times to try and clear the image from his mind, but they would not leave. All he could picture was his mech lying there as wave after wave of missiles slammed into it, pounding further into the dirt. A few moments passed and he came out of the vision. His breathing had begun to stabilize and he prepared his response.

He sighed in gratification as he replied to the official. "Star Commander James here. Neg, I can go no further."

The words felt heavy as they rolled off his tongue. I can go no further. But he began to rationalize that he wasn't just giving up. He was adapting to the situation. Any further combat would certainly destroy this mech, and perhaps him along with it.

The voice came back on the line, "Very well. Return your mech to the mech bay for refit and repair."

As he began his preparations for return to the bay the voice in his headset made one last statement. "Star Colonel Kelly Hardo in the Ice Ferret would like the say something to you."

A much calmer voice came over the speakers as James listened to what his last opponent had to say.

"I am honored to have fought against you today. I have heard about your unique abilities from some of the Galaxy Commanders. Be proud Star Commander. Today you have grown from a nova kitten to a full fledged Nova Cat."

With a smile brighter than a thousand suns, James walked his mech back to the mech bay.

Cadet Barracks

Barcella

Kerensky Cluster, Clan Nova Cat Home World

12 May 3048

1100 Hours

James was lying in his bunk on his stomach reading through a mech operations manual on captured equipment. Better to know how to work everything well than to work one thing best. This was just one more lesson of adapting that James had tucked away in his mind.

He turned the page and came to the section on the Timber Wolf, used mostly by Clan Wolf. At 75-tons, this mech boasted a wide variety of weapons, and had an excellent range of speed. James read through the documented weapons layouts as he recalled Olivia's retelling of her Trial. This mech had became her second opponent. He scanned the alternate configurations and spotted some familiarity between her story and the 'C' variant. The 'C' sported a pair of LRM-15s, a pair of ER Large Lasers and an Ultra Autocannon-5 as its main armament. It also had an ER Medium Laser and an Anti-Missile system as backups. James thought it was rather amazing that her Stormcrow lasted as long as it did in that matchup.

Thinking back, he recalled the look on her Tech Chief's face when she limped her mech back into the hangar. James chuckled as we watched the tech try to help Olivia park the near-crippled mech in the bay for repairs. She waved to James from outside her cockpit and then climbed down the rope ladder. When she passed the red-faced tech she remarked, "Hey, if you think that looks bad, you should see the other guy!"

A white-toothed grin stretched across her face as the tech turned to her and shook her hand in congratulations for a job well done.

Olivia lived three bunks down from James'. She sat up and folded her legs under her. Acting more subdued than James was used to seeing, he briefly thought about going over to talk to her. He quickly dismissed that idea. She obviously was a warrior now, just like him. If there was anything that needed to be said it would be up to her to bring it out into the open. And even then, James thought, should I really care if anything is wrong? Olivia was going over a checklist of the report her tech had sent her of the once-over he performed on her mech before beginning the actual repairs. James received a similar report from his own tech but had just filed it away in his database. James knew just how much damage he had taken from the last mech, and was still concerned over his decisions to end the Trial there. Getting a vision right in the middle of his Trial was rather unsettling, to say the least. James was ready to pound the next mech into scrap, until his vision gave him pause to do so.

Reluctantly he had ended his trial at that point, knowing he would have to wait to find out what he was going to leave behind. The unchallenged opponents would be made known to each successful cadet, along with the defeated opponents and several other statistics about their Trial. Those that did not pass their Trial had already left in the night. It was known that they did that to avoid the scorned looks from the blooded warriors of their sibko. It wasn't possible to determine who passed and who failed though. Only a handful of warriors were still in the barracks. Others had gone off to celebrate and there was talk that some had gone to the simulators to replay their Trial again for sport.

James was content right where he was for now. He had much to sort out in his mind with the Blooding Ceremonies coming up.

He picked his head up from the book when he heard the front door open up and several pairs of heavy boots proceed down the central aisle. He recognized two of the men immediately as Elementals. Elementals were known as the elite, battle-suited infantry of the Clans. Standing well over two meters in height, these men and women were bred specifically for Clan-developed battle armor. A single star of Elementals could take down a medium mech if the pilot was not wary enough of them. The other two men walking behind the Elementals were dressed in lengthy white coats. One of them held a clipboard.

Must be part of the scientist caste, James thought, but what are Elementals doing with scientists? They continued to walk toward James but then stopped at a set of bunks about six meters from James. James looked carefully at one of the massive warriors. He stood there at parade rest behind the scientist. His hair had been shaved off, but you could still see that the regrowth was colored gray. The jumpsuit he wore was void of any insignias or markings of rank. Then it suddenly occurred to James that these men weren't warriors of the Clan. They were solahma. They were too old to fight, so now they had been reduced from fighting status to menial labor. I hope to die in the cockpit before being stripped of my honor, James thought.

The one scientist with the clipboard flipped up a sheet of paper and read off some of the text. "Um, 06789 and 788. Yup, these two go."

Each Elemental then walked to a bunk in front of the scientist with the clipboard. They flipped open the footlocker lids against the foot of the bunk. They then took anything that was under, on top of, or next to the bunk, and tossed it into the locker. Next they stripped off the sheets and rolled the mattress up and left it at the head of the bunk. Lastly the Elementals each grabbed a now full locker and carried them out of the barracks.The scientists followed closely behind the departing Elementals. One of the newly christened warriors at the far end stopped a scientist and looked as if he were asking about the removed items. The scientist left as the mechwarrior shook his head to indicate he understood what he was told. The mechwarrior then walked over to where James was still lying on his own bunk. James followed his movements the entire time, giving a visible indication that he might actually be interested in what the other had to say to him. James recognized that the mechwarrior was Taylor, one of the more boastful of the sibkos.

Taylor reached the foot of James' bunk and began to speak in a rather loud tone, almost bordering on bragging.

"James did you hear? Of course not, I just found out myself. The bunks they emptied, where of Jordan's and David's. They were paired in the Trial, and neither one of them lived to see it finished."

James face never changed from its look of boredom, as Taylor divulged the story. Apparently, David being the glory hog that he was, wanted to get further than any other cadet in the sibko. After defeating his first mech, David marched within range of Jordan's engagement area and fired all his weapons at the back armor of Jordan's waiting second opponent, breaching the back armor and destroying the mech outright.

Taylor's eyes grew wider as he dove into the extreme detail of the melee that ensued. Jordan's first opponent disengaged long enough for the third one to join up and they killed Jordan in a hailstorm of missiles and cannon fire. David had already been searching for Jordan's first adversary to try and steal the easy kill. What he didn't realize was that his own second and third opponents were stalking him from the rear. David found Jordan's destroyed mech, and that's when the four other mechs sprung their trap. Attacking David's mech simultaneously with all their weapons, they reduced it to scrap metal before it ever had a chance to fall to the ground. When the repair crews arrived to retrieve the mechs, they couldn't find any remains of the two cadets left in the smoking heaps of metal and wire.

When Taylor finished telling the story with great enthusiasm, James nodded his head at Taylor and said just a single word. "Yep".

The Garden of Remembrance

Barcella

Kerensky Cluster, Clan Nova Cat Home World

20 May 3048

1700 Hours

The rhythmic pattern of the drums sounded in James' ears as the gathering of people formed a circle in the field. In the middle of the circle, stood a large teepee-style pile of wooden logs, to be used at the end of the Warrior Ceremony. James stood there amongst the conclave of Nova Cat warriors. Besides Olivia and himself, each of the attendants stood adorned in formal black leather jumpsuits that fitted snugly. A white supernova-like blaze was set over the left shoulder and breast. Each also wore elegantly worked nova cats-head masks that hid his or her features beneath its snarling expression. Looking around the circle, James could not tell the identities of any of the dressed nova cats although he was certain that his Training Commander, Galaxy Commander Mikel Drummond, was present here.

The drums stopped in unison right after a feverish beat had worked its way through the crowd. A lone figure stepped forth from the crowd and ascended a flight of stairs to a podium on a large wooden platform. The soon-to-be speaker removed their mask, and James found himself looking up at the face of the Oathmaster. Although James knew the Oathmaster presided over every major ceremony of the Nova Cat Clan, her presence still took him by surprise. Perhaps it was just the fact that he was in awe of her, but never the less it had quite an affect on him.

"I, Biccon Winters, am the Oathmaster." Her words reverberated through the air. "All are bound by this Conclave until the end of time and beyond." In one voice, James heard their response, "Seyla".

"This day we are fortunate to honor the spirit and determination of two true warriors. With them we will work together, fulfilling Nicholas Kerensky's dream. Today we accept them into the ranks of active MechWarriors."

Biccon raised her left hand above her head, as the drumbeats sounded out twenty beats.

"In the beginning, there was the original twenty. Passed to them were the laws set down by The Founder that would shape our lives forever. One of those laws was set to govern advancement in the Clan through a series of trials. To become a MechWarrior a cadet must survive a Trial of Position against three tested warriors. Today we honor those that have successfully completed their Trials. James of Clan Nova Cat, we bid you forward."

James lifted his head high and strode forward through the circle of warriors. He could feel the eyes behind the masks watch him as he walked past. Some internal consciousness gnawed at him to look back at them, but he forced himself to stare directly ahead at the Oathmaster. Winters lowered her hand and held it out over James' head as he stopped in front of the podium.

"James of Clan Nova Cat, have you undergone the training and passed the testing required of those that wish to achieve MechWarrior status?"

"As I have been guided, I have, Oathmaster."

"Do you understand the right and responsibilities of a MechWarrior within the Clan?"

"Within my heart and my spirit, I understand Oathmaster."

Winters swung her arm out parallel to her body and turned her hand perpendicular to the ground. The drums began in the pounded with a steady crescendo. With a flick of her fingers, three Nova Cats stepped from the depth of the platform shadows and stood just a few feet from the podium. All were dressed in formal leathers with a belt secured by the Nova Cat emblem. A cloak of red fur was secured to the suit on the left shoulder by their Galaxy assignment, and on the right shoulder by their rank. All three were Star Colonels, but each was from a different Galaxy in the Clan. They each adorned the masks of the Nova Cat. The drums stopped abruptly and the first warrior stepped forward to the edge of the platform. The Oathmaster began speaking again.

"In the Chronicle of Battles we recall the victories and the defeats that we may learn from them. We tell these tales to honor our warriors fallen and fighting. Today we honor Cadet James with the telling of his Trial."

Just as the echo of her words had drifted off, the first warrior spoke out in a loud, thunderous voice. The voice seemed eerily disembodied as it came from behind the mask.

"I am Star Colonel Kothinur Gritas of the Fourth Nova Cat Guards of Alpha Galaxy. I was the first to engage Cadet James in my Gargoyle."

As Gritas continued on in detail of the battle, James recalled his own movements and thoughts at each step. After listening to the retelling for a few moments James realized that had he tried moving during the battle to gain the upper hand, it would have gone much worse. Gritas finished his telling and saluted James. James returned the salute, then Gritas turned and repeated the process with the Oathmaster. He returned to his initial place in line and turned back around to face for ward again.

The middle warrior then stepped forward and James recognized the voice of the Ice Ferret pilot, Star Colonel Kelly Hardo. Though she had praised James' action on the field, in her telling she exulted him far more than James thought he deserved.

Although he did defeat her, there was something about his reaction to her provocation in the heat of battle that still bothered him. James snapped out of his thoughts as the third person stepped up.

Unlike the other two, this warrior removed her mask and held it beneath her left arm. James did not recognize her face like he thought he might. The woman began speaking in a soft tone, but it projected throughout the room.

"I am Star Captain Jill Lenardon of the 179th Striker Cluster of Beta Galaxy. Cadet James did not engage me during this Trial, as he had decided that combat between us would not go in his favor. I concurred with his decision after reading the final reports of the Trial for myself. The damage his Nova had absorbed including the loss of its right arm would have been no contest against my Mad Dog."

James eyes nearly popped out of his head at the name of the unknown opponents mech. The Mad Dog was a formidable mech to fight. Sporting twin LRM20 racks in the torso, twin Large Pulse Lasers and twin Medium Pulse Lasers in the arms, that mech could devastate any mech well beyond their own range to fight back. James sighed a silent note of thanks to his intuition for saving him from a horrible fate of dying trying to attack that mech. The sounds of Jill still talking brought James back to the room.

"The main goal of the Clan in battle is not to just win, but win by the largest margin. James has displayed a firm grasp of understanding the situation and of know ing his opponent. Even the ones he could not see."

Jill let a smile curl up at the corner of her mouth.James wondered if that display gave any indication to whether or not Jill knew about his gift of sight. When Jill stepped back into line with the others, James let that thought wash from his mind.

The Oathmaster stepped out in front of the podium, and raised both arms to encompass the entire room. "Are these affirmations acceptable to the Conclave?"

As one the Nova Cats responded, "Seyla".

"So it shall be." Biccon motioned for James to ascend to the platform. "From this day forward, James, you have all the rights and responsibilities, honors and duties attending to your status. Because you killed two mechs during your Trial, you are eligible to join a combat unit at the rank of Star Commander. And I have it on good authority that a place for you has already been formed. Congratulations."

A Nova Cat approached from the left stage carrying a satchel that looked to be made from animal fur. Biccon stepped back and flipped over the coverings of the satchel. She took a small lapel pin from the satchel and pinned it to the right breast of James' leather jumpsuit. The design was an eight-pointed star with an elongated southern tip. It marked him as a MechWarrior. The Oathmaster lifted a second item, a mask, from the aide and nodded to bid him away. Turning back to James she lifted the mask over his head. Made of metals and fabric lupine, the glossy black finish gave way to savage yellow eyes entombed in the skull. Its white teeth where glistening in the light and the jowls were knotted in a fierce snarl.

James' lack of facial expression in no way reflected the over-loaded reactor-like feeling of joy building up in his chest. Right before he was about to explode, Biccon placed the mask over his head.

"I give you James of the Nova Cats and demand you recognize him as a MechWarrior." As one the Nova Cats responded, "Seyla". James stepped down from the platform, and took his place amongst the concealed Nova Cats.

The Oathmaster begun speaking again, "Olivia of Clan Nova Cat, we bid you forward." James listened as the ceremony repeated itself for Olivia's passing of her Trial. James focused his attention as her opponents retold their versions of the events of the Trial. Her first opponent was a Nova like James' mech. She had used her longer ranged weapons to keep the pilot from getting in close, and once the damage had grown severe enough, she moved in to finish them off, taking even less damage than James from his first opponent. As James had surmised, her second opponent was a well-armed Timber Wolf in the C variant. Olivia took a significant amount of damage from its long-range weapons, before she moved in to negate their advantage. Several lucky hits had sheared the leg from the Timber Wolf, giving her a much needed break from the weapons exchange. Her third and untouched opponent was a Hunchback IIC. The IIC was a reworking of the venerable Star League-era HBK-2. Clan technicians incorporated into this machine more compact and technologically sophisticated components, allowing the installation of two rapid-fire Autocannons rather than a single AC-20. The effect of those two massive cannons would have torn her mech to pieces in a hurry. Deep inside, a feeling of relief that she had stopped her Trial then quickly came and went, and left a nagging feeling of confusion inside James. It was unnatural for James to feel that way about another warrior. If she had died then it would have just proven that she was not worthy of becoming a trueborn warrior of the Clans, but something in James told him that because she survived he was some how happier. James stuffed that thought into the back of his mind, and squashed it like an annoying insect.

James continued to watch as Olivia was adorned with the symbol of a mechwarrior and given the ceremonial nova cat mask. Walking down from the stage with her head held high and her shoulders thrust back, Olivia was a stoic symbol of a Clan warrior. James held her in great respect, but more so as a friend than a comrade in arms. Olivia stepped into the circle, next to James and faced forward into the center. He could feel the back of her hand lightly brush against his. The touch of her hand lasted just a second or two, but it was enough for James' senses to detect the contact and react. Even though the leathers that he was wearing were making it hot enough in the setting sun, a flash of heat rose up from the pit of his stomach and lodged itself in his face. Thankful he was still wearing the ceremonial mask. He allowed the voice of the Oathmaster to shake his thoughts back to the moment at hand.

"Bound by the honors of this enclave, and by the laws set forth by those before us, Clan Nova Cat welcomes to its active warrior ranks, James and Olivia. From the fire we were created, and into the fire we will go together. Together we will defeat the weak-hearted and let our decree become a warning to those that would oppose us."

As if on queue an arrow arced downward to the pile of wood in the circle, shot out from an unseen location. The tip was bathed in flame, and sound of the wind rushing past the fire reached out to everyone in the circle. The arrow stabbed into the top of a log and the force of the impact knocked flaming chunks of arrow into the pile. The bits caught spots of accelerant the entire pile of wood was quickly engulfed in a roaring blaze that stretched to the dusky sky. Shouts of joy and war cries erupted from the spectators. The drums began a feverous, rhythmic beat and several people in the circle began a stately, intricate dance around the fire.

Shortly after, Olivia slipped her arm through the crook of James' elbow and began to walk away from the celebration.

"Before you leave for your new assignment, I have been dying to show you something."

James smiled as he realized she was hinting at coupling. Coupling was a ritual aimed at removing unnecessary emotion from the ranks of the military. Because warriors were genetically engineered, relationships were not needed for breeding new warriors. Coupling was used to replace the intimacy and emotion born from sexual relationships. It was mainly as a means of venting frustration or seen as a source of exercise.

"And what is it that you wish to show me Olivia?" He asked with a straight face to hide the fact he knew what she was asking.

Olivia stopped and turned to face him. "You like to make things hard for me, quiaff?"

James returned a look of confusion but he was having a much harder time hiding his smile now. "Honestly, what do you mean Olivia?"

She took him by the hand and resumed their walk back to the residential buildings. "I want to hear you admit once and for all that my room is better than yours." she replied jokingly.

James playfully landed a tackle around her midsection and dragged her to the ground. Expertly, she rotated her hips during the fall, and landed on top of James knocking some air from his lungs.

"Why does everything have to be a competition with you?"

James gasped and tried to wriggle himself from under her weight. She forcefully grabbed his arms and pinned them to his sides. She bent down over his face, lightly brushing his lips with hers. Her chin-length hair tickled his cheek as it spilled from where she'd tucked it behind her right ear. "Because I am Clan."

Beta Galaxy Command Compound

Circe

Kerensky Cluster, Clan Nova Cat Holding

27 November 3048

0700 Hours

A hovertruck pulled up in front of one of the many gray stone buildings. As it lowered to the ground the skirts flapped erratically from the force of the fans. Dust was kicked up into a whirling cloud that almost enveloped the entire craft and hid it from view. With a metallic clunk the vehicle planted itself on the ground and the fans were turned off. The cloud that had erupted so quickly left just the same. Strolling down the walkway to the curbside was a young warrior. Dressed in a grey jumpsuit with the Galaxy symbol stitched into the right shoulder and the mechwarrior symbol over his left breast pocket, he reached out and opened the passenger door. Snapping to a salute he greeted the passenger as he stepped from the vehicle.

A pair of black, shin-high boots struck the sidewalk first. The pant legs of a similar gray jumpsuit were stuffed inside the boots and a dagger half an arm in length was strapped to the right thigh. A warm breeze kicked up as James stepped completely out of the vehicle. He returned the MechWarriors salute and then turned to look up at the building. A single sign on the grass lawn indicated the use of the building. James read the words slowly, turning them over in his mind so that this moment would not be lost in his memories.

Beta Galaxy/179th Striker Cluster rode the top of the sign in 5 inch tall letters. Below that in a more relaxed type set read Circle of Power. Circle of Power, was the name given to the Cluster of warriors by the Khan when it was created. James was uncertain where the Khan obtained the name, but he was certain that it had special meaning for each Warrior under it. In time James would find its own meaning for himself. The person that had greeted James at the curb was now standing slightly behind him.

"Welcome to the 179th Star Commander James. Star Colonel Satin West has assigned me as your aide for your duration in Beta Galaxy. I am MechWarrior Edward of Bravo Star of the Command Supernova. The Star Colonel asked that I inform you that your quarters have been prepared for your arrival, and that all materials you have requested have been delivered to your office."

A third individual dressed in plain gray overalls, holding two bags in his hands and a rucksack slung over his shoulder, stood behind Edward. James turned his head to the side slightly to acknowledge his presence and began to walk toward the building. Caught off guard, the young aide had to double-time a couple steps to catch up with James' long strides.

They marched along the corridors in silence, their boots cracking on the tiles like miniature gunshots. James stopped in front of his quarters, his name embossed on a red plate bolted to the door. He keyed in the door number code and the lock retracted in a quiet set of whirling gears. He opened the door and then stood back to allow the tech holding all his bags to enter first. James followed him in and looked around the room.

It was small, roughly 3 meters square, and held a bed, a set of shelves, a dresser, and a chair for the desk. The wall that was between the bed and the desk had a single window that looked out upon the other buildings in the housing area. On top of the desk was a computer terminal and keyboard. Next to the terminal sat a vidphone. The spartan settings were just perfect for James' tastes. Nothing here was going to distract him from the task he had set forth for himself. The tech had placed the bags in his hands on top of the bed and laid the rucksack on the floor next to it. He bid his farewells to James and Edward and then left the room quietly. James turned around to face the MechWarrior.

"I am fine for now Edward. I will attend to my office once I am settled here. Please pass the word that I would like to meet the mechwarriors of the Command Supernova in the briefing room at 1300 hours. Thank you for your help this morning."

"As you command, Star Commander." Edward saluted James and proceeded to head out the door. Without turning to watch his exit, James murmured, "In my private room, you may feel free to dispense with the formalities of rank and responsibility."

A look of puzzlement flashed across Edward's eyes as he turned to go. "Thank you Sta…uh…sir."

James left his personal belongs in their bags, pulled out the chair and sat down. He positioned the keyboard in front of him and pressed a key. The screen flickered to life and a cursor flashed next to a single word, LOGIN. He entered the security code given to him when his gear for his new rank showed up at the Cadet Barracks. System and security information scrolled past the screens and he ignored most of it. When it was finished processing it brought up an interface screen that listed the various areas James could access with his security level. Out of curiosity he punched up the section on OmniMech Data, and then selected a section on Non-Nova Cat Omnimechs. He spotted the Timber Wolf mech of Clan Wolf, and brought up the schematics. Much more detail here than in my cadet manual, James thought. He filed away the idea of studying the increased amount of information in order to test his; to see if they took advantage of the perks of rising from cadet to warrior status. He exited that area and moved again from the main screen to pull up a list of personnel in Beta Galaxy, broken down by each individual star. James was just about to read through the list of his own command when the videophone beeped to life.

James sat back in his chair as the digitized image of Olivia formed on the phone's screen. Her bright eyes and mile-wide smile greeted him like a searchlight stabbing out into the darkness of night.

"Star Commander Olivia. To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?"

"Is this not wonderful James? Our first command, warriors under our control, all this is so exciting!"

Her face showed honest joy but her words dripped with loathing sarcasm. Her shoulder-length brown hair waved about slightly as she expressed her feelings. James leaned to the right side of the chair, and cupped his chin with his right hand. "Exciting is a rather strong word for such great responsibility. We are now both Star Commanders. I would not describe the feelings I have as exciting. They are more focused toward the duties that I now have. Would you agree, quiaff?"

Olivia narrowed her eyes into slits as she stared back at James. "When I say excited James, I am referring to the pride I feel in our Clan. Not only are we now warriors, but we have been given command of other warriors. I could not think of anything more fitting in this life. It is the warriors under my command that I am finding difficult."

James smiled a devilish grin and shook his head slightly. "Ah, the ever-challenged Olivia. Even with a promotion I can still see the fire in your soul for conflict. Pity you will not have me to slap around anymore, but do not try to hide the fact that you like the challenge these warriors provide for you."

Olivia's grin grew wider. "James, do I have to walk my mech over there and blast your hide out of the bubble you have crawled into?"

Had James not grown up with her his entire life, he might've taken the absence of his rank in her question as an insult.

"Olivia…do I detect a challenge hidden in your words?" James cooed back over the connection.

"Your entire Star against me sounds reasonable, quiaff?" shot back Olivia.

James sighed and looked at the window as if uninterested in the conversation. "Neg, loosing you to such a silly bet would be wasteful of the years of training you endured trying to catch up with me. An even match between stars would be more than acceptable, Star Commander. We will meet you at 1600 on the parade grounds."

"Acceptable enough for your defeat James." Olivia locked her jaw in place and then disconnected the call.

The screen faded to black as James sat there staring back at the void. Something about Olivia struck James as odd. It wasn't her behavior that he questioned. He had known her too long for that to cause concern. Maybe it was the fact that she was still the same Olivia. Feisty, hotheaded, easy to provoke were all the traits that shown on the surface, but he sensed something else. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. Maybe a sense of duty trying to poke free of the chains of training and principles? But that didn't fall in with the Clan ways. James waved his hand at an imaginary cloud to dispel the thoughts about Olivia. Turning back to his terminal he began to go over the list of his own men.

James saw his name blazing proudly on the screen as the commander of Alpha Star in the Command Supernova. Clan military structure had been reworked into its own standards when the Star League Defense Force left the Inner Sphere 300 years ago. Each Mech or Elemental by themselves was known as a Point. Mechs or Elementals were combined into groups of five, called Stars. Each Star was commanded by a Star Commander. When the Stars were combined, two made up a Binary and three made up a Trinary, both commanded by a Star Colonel. When you combined elements of the military, namely Mechs and Elementals, you then had a Supernova. The Command Supernova of Beta Galaxy had three Stars of Omnimechs, and three supporting Stars of Elementals. The mechs under his command where also listed next to each warrior's name.

James was pleased to see that his Nova was still with him. Receiving a new mech would not be wrong, but James was accustomed to the Nova's abilities. His second in command rode in a Summoner. Human-like in design the Summoner had a boxy upper structure. A cylindrical pod mounted on the left shoulder held the missiles while its arms ended in the standard hexagonal pods know only to Omnimechs. Those pods could mount cannons, lasers, even the deadly Particle Projection Cannon. Next in the list was a Shadowcat. This was a relatively new design within the clans. Setup with chicken-walker legs like his Nova, the ShadowCat had a longer body to account for a larger engine and jump jets. It's right arm held a cannon pod for lasers or a gauss rifle, and the right could take any type of lasers. The body had room for missiles depending on the rest of the weapon layout. To enhance its offensive capabilities the mech also mounted an Active Probe Sensor Suite, which allowed the pilot to detect low-powered and shutdown mechs. An attached Myomer Accelerated Signal Circuitry (MASC) system gave the mech a quick burst of speed, but required a significant amount of heat buildup to allow the new muscle strands to work properly.

The next two warriors caught James attention the most. It seemed that they piloted the same mech, which was a Rifleman IIC. Any mech with the IIC designation was a reworked Star League-era mech that had come with the SLDF. Mostly though, IIC were designated for garrison forces as the front-line units were always given their choice of top of the line Omnimechs. The new Rifleman IICs had five tons more armor than the original design, and also included jump jets. In response to the constant problem of ammo explosions from the Autocannon ammunition that they originally held, the designers removed all the weapons and replaced them with two Large Pulse Lasers in each arm. The most notable thing about the Rifleman chassis was its ability to target in a 360 spherical arc. The arms were mounted specially at the shoulders to allow the mech to rotate them up and over its head to aim backwards, giving a nasty surprise to anyone unfortunate enough to forget this fact.

What puzzled James most was that not one but two trueborn warriors, still in the prime of their active warrior years, were piloting two outdated, outclassed Battlemechs. He decided to make it a point to find out why, and see if it was by their choice or by the undoing of someone else.

After unpacking his personal belongings James headed off for the gym to get in a few hours of physical training. All the time spent on Jumpships getting from Barcella to Circe had settled an annoyingly light cramp into all his muscles. Jumpships were the space vessels designed for traveling between planetary systems. The drive systems nestled deep inside these massive ships were the secret to faster than light travel. The Kearney-Fuchida drive, commonly referred to as a K-F drive, was able to bend space and time together and "jump" the ship up to thirty light-years away. For all that marvelous science the drive unit took an ungodly amount of time to recharge. Ships would reach the next star system and get into position to capture the electromagnetic radiation in their jump sails. The recharging process was slow to prevent damage to the drive coils, which would terminate the ship's usefulness. Jumpships were large enough to carry a substantial amount of cargo and personnel. Added to that were normally fitted docking collars that would let the spheroid Dropships dock and jump out with the ship. Because of the nature of the Jumpships, the only way to get planet side from them was in shuttlecraft or in the Dropships. Two jumps and the trip from Barcella to the Jumpship and again from the ship to Circe had taken three weeks and almost two days.

Chalking the cramps up to the rigors of space travel and the weak artificial gravity provided during the ships maneuvering, James began with a five-kilometer run around the track and then joined an Elemental on the combat mat. When he had enough of being tossed around like a cheap toy he excused himself to go shower and prepare for meeting the men under his command. James strolled leisurely down the halls to the briefing room, the heels of his boot slapping the linoleum floor in quiet rhythm.

He grabbed the handle of the room and took just a second to compose himself before meeting his men for the first time. Even before the slider had clicked in the doorknob the four members of Alpha Star were on their feet standing at attention. James walked in front of the group and returned their salute. All had fair skin, their heads shaved close to gain the maximum response from the neurohelmet they wore in their mechs.

Each was dressed in the standard Nova Cat jumpsuit that only informed any onlooker of name, rank, and Galaxy affiliation. The bulges in the upper body area could have been mistaken for musculature, but James new it was just the cooling vest worn beneath the jumpsuit. Every mechwarrior had two; one they wore all the time, and a spare in their mech. He sat down on the top of the desk that was in front of the rows of chairs and motioned for the mech to retake their seats. James reached into the hip pocket of his suit and pulled out a small handheld noteputer and placed that on the desktop.

"I would like to take some time to go over each of your records to better acquaint myself with you. As you know I am your new commanding officer. My name is Star Commander James. You may call me Star Commander James, unless I tell you otherwise. Based on your performance you men have been given a seat in the Command Supernova's Alpha Star."

"It is important to the Clan, to you, but mostly to me that I make sure that seat appointment has not been an oversight. I am not questioning your abilities as a warrior. I am questioning the decisions of my predecessor. I will be reviewing your past performance and grading you on future assignments. Make no mistake, if you do not muster up to my level of expectation I will have you removed from my command and reassigned as the nursemaid of some canister-born whelp. These standards that I set forth on this day will guarantee us victory in our battles, and give us the recognition that I know you have been longing for."

James slid off the desk and took a relaxed stance a few feet in front of the first man in the row. Looking at a distant point straight ahead he clasped his hands together at the small of his back. The point of his little speech was not to scare them from doing wrong but to ally them together against him. In that unity they would learn to rely on each other when the situation became drastic. And if James could mold them into that kind of fighting force then no enemy would withstand their wraith. James continued with his briefing.

"You are MechWarrior Zachary, quiaff?"

A young man with a solid frame and crystal blue eyes answer back, "Aff, Star Commander James."

James looked down at the man as if he were something unidentifyable. The look gave Zachary quite a start as he didn't quite know how to interpret it. James replaced a look of calm on his face, "You pilot a Summoner. Do you feel that your Omnimech suites you?"

Zachary pushed himself further back into the chair unsure of the direction this conversation was going.

"I am trained in all Omnimechs in the Nova Cat touman, but it was my choice to pilot the Summoner. I like the punch it packs, both in long and short range weapons. The armor offers ample protection to prolong a fight to victory."

James smirked at the man in the chair, "A simple yes will do fine. You need not elaborate on what I already know." Zachary's cheeks flushed red as James sidestepped down to the next man.

"MechWarrior John, according to my records you pilot a ShadowCat, a rather impressive new Clan heavy scout design. But despite that fact, your use of the mech contradicts all the situations that it was made for. Explain please."

John shifted in the chair, gauging the methods behind the man. "I have found that many opponents often underestimate the mech's capabilities, and I use that to my advantage. I have defeated mechs 20 even 30 tons heavier than I, using their insecure assumptions."

James nodded at his answer as if mulling it over in his head. Tilting his head to the side James asked, "Have you ever thought to use your superior speed and jump capabilities to land behind your opponent and bury a gauss round through his rear armor John?"

Just like Zachary, John flushed with anger. "I would NEVER attack another warr … ." Sitting up straight John prepared to launch into his own verbal tirade, but James stopped him by raising his hand to him.

In a much calmer voice than John's, James continued, "I merely asked if you had considered the possibility of using such a tactic. Rules of zellbrigen are only as useful as those that honor them. Now I want you to consider that statement before you try to accuse me of heresy. If a warrior fought against you in a manor unworthy of zellbrigen, would you continue to save your precious honor, or would you terminate the contemptible person? Do not answer now. I want you to think about it."

James turned and walked to stand between the last two men. "And you two. I do not even know where to begin. You are in the highest seats a MechWarrior can hope for, yet you pilot mechs reserved for solahma and garrison forces. I cannot wait to hear this explanation." James crossed his arms and nodded to the first pilot to begin.

"As a cadet I have trained in and against the many different Omnimechs, and I have found that the most competent warrior is often the most dangerous. It has nothing to do with the mech. When I would pilot the Rifleman against my sibmates, they would dance their mech around as if to imply that they felt no need to worry. By the time they realized their error there was no chance for them to win. I have defeated many warriors in an old, outdated mech because I am the best. That is a fact because I still pilot it."

James remained silent and just turned his head to look at the other Rifleman pilot.

"While I cannot lay claim to the level of expertise Andrea can display in any mech, I have found that I am a quick study of my opponent. I can almost anticipate their moves and counter them before they make it. By being a step or two ahead, I can work in a foundation for victory. You need to know when you are going to win or going to lose a battle. That is what makes a great warrior. The fact that it is an old Rifleman forces my opponent to spend more time questioning my abilities. Once I have punched numerous holes in their armor, they begin to question and doubt themselves and that is when I will always win."

James moved his left hand to rest under his chin as he stared up at the ceiling. "Premonition and pretense are powerful weapons, MechWarrior Greg. Be wary that your opponent is not a master of them."

James spun in place and marched back to the front of the room. "You all have given me much to think about and work with. But we are on borrowed time as they say, and right now I have better things to do than to think about you and your responses. In less than three hours we will face off against Star Commander Olivia of the 189th Striker Cluster and her new star in a live-fire training exercise. Now, I want you to get out of here and prep your mechs to start us down the glory road!"

In the split second James had finished his words to pump up the men of his star, they bolted from their chairs and sprang out the door. They immediately headed for the mech bays in preparation of the exercise to come. James reached over and picked up his noteputer from the top of the desk. He quietly placed it back in the pocket it came from. Zipping it shut, he casually followed after his men.

Proving Grounds

1600 Hours

Though the heavy neurohelmet rested on the shoulder pads of his cooling vest, James set about adjusting it one more time before moving his team out to the engagement area. All five mechs of the Alpha Star stood running at full power at the edge of the Proving Grounds. All warriors used these grounds to train and test their mechs. Even the technician caste, when they were working on repairing the mechs, used the grounds. But the techs and the warriors never used it at the same time. James often wondered about the technician caste. They were always tinkering, or testing, or changing equipment on mechs. Granted it was always to keep the mechs in the best performance possible but sometimes their updates were just downright amazing. For instance when they repaired his Nova after winning the rank of Star Commander, they removed his old fire control panel that sat to the left of his command chair. It was replaced with a new low-power radio set that held all the frequencies from the men in his star all the way up to the Galaxy Commander himself. The old radio set was removed and a larger memory core for the main computer took up the space. The fire controls were combined with the control sticks so that the he would not have to lift his hands to change his weapon grouping. Touch-sensitive controls rested at the edges of his fingertips when he griped the sticks. Simply touching the controls would toggle the weapon on or off. The weapons themselves were already grouped into pairs for each of the three triggers that occupied both sticks. James could fire any pair of weapons using his thumb, index or middle fingers.

The new equipment had pleased him, but his bigger surprise was that his mech had been repainted to match the new terrain. Gone was the burgundy and dark green stripe camouflage to match the red-clay dirt and trees of Barcella. Now his mech was covered in a three-tone sand pattern to match up with the spartan conditions of the desert world Circe. They had even installed more efficient air filters in his ventilation systems to keep out the sand and dust that was kicked up while moving around in the mech. As the clock ticked down into the final minute before the mission start James queued up the radio set and dialed into the channel his Star would be using for the training mission.

"Alpha Star MechWarriors report status." Each of the warriors called back to report all systems were in the green and they were ready. James turned his Nova to face the center of the proving grounds and began to move forward at about a third of his maximum speed. The rest of the mechs followed him in a straight line abreast. The mechs swayed slightly from side to side as the metal beasts lumbered across the open terrain. When they passed the hundred meter mark from their starting point James changed up the formation. "Alpha Star, wedge formation. Andrea and Greg take the edges, Zachary takes point, John form up on his right side, I will take his left. All units match half speed of the Summoner."

The pounding of just one of the several meter tall mechs was enough to shake the ground by walking. James had all five of them trotting across the ground at roughly 25kph. Luckily no one was permitted to enter the proving grounds once mechs had crossed the boundaries. Aside from possibly getting stepped on or vaporized by a stray shot the tremors alone would constantly knock them off their feet. The mechs moved effortlessly across the ground gobbling up the distance to their adversaries. James watched the navigation points preset in his computer decrease in length on his HUD display. Clicking the new weapon controls he armed eight of his twelve Extended Range Medium Lasers.

"All units arm your longest range weapons first. Increase distance between yourselves to 50 meters. Target the mech directly in front of you. When they come in range open fire and close the distance rapidly to spoil their aim, Then finish them off. Keep to that mech until it is down."

A series of affirmatives clicked back over the comm line but James' attention was drawn to the radar screen. A single contact appeared at the furthest detection range. Then another. And another. Quickly all five mechs of Olivia's star popped up and the computer tagged each one. A Nova, a Timber Wolf, a Summoner, and two Pumas were moving at flank speed directly towards James and his star. The heat buildup of the mechs and the tension in the air was making James sweat. He used the back of his right hand to wipe away the sweat drops that had begun to hang from his nose. He nursed his targeting hairs over the chest of the Timber Wolf in front of him, and waited for the range to click down to zero. In just a few seconds he would get the chance to teach Olivia a good lesson about command. James counted along in his head with the numbers as they wound down. 100…60…40…20…

Just moments before he was about to mash down on the triggers a voice ripped through the headset in his helmet. "All personnel are to report back to the base immediately, repeat, report back to the base immediately! This is not a drill!"

James threw his mech to a stop, as did the rest of the mechs on the field. Flipping a toggle on the radio set he switched over to the full Galaxy band. "Who is this? What is the meaning of that order?"

"This is Galaxy Commander John Rosse, Star Commander James. I am ordering everyone back to the base because we are now in preparations to depart."

James frowned at the news. None of this made sense let alone was grounds to stop valuable training for him and his new command. James keyed the mic again, "Galaxy Commander, depart where?"

Even over the radio you could feel the smile on Rosse's face. "The Clan Grand Council has voted to invade. We are preparing to return to the Inner Sphere! Trials will be held for each Clan to fight for a place in the invasion corridor."

James gasped audibly at the news. For almost 300 years the Clans have lived in seclusion from the warring states of the Inner Sphere. The main drive for segregating themselves so severely was the knowledge of returning one day to restore the peace and prosperity of the original Star League. And now that day had finally come.

Clan Grand Council, Hall of the Khans

Strana Mechty

Kerensky Cluster, Clan Home World

18 December 3048

1500 Hours

From the time of the beginning of the Clans, the Clan Grand Council was the seat of Clan political power. It was here, on the home world of Strana Mechty, that Nicholas Kerensky bestowed upon the members of the second Exodus his changes for their survival so far from the birthplace of the human race. The baseline for this was the creation of twenty Clans. Two leaders, a Khan and his subordinate saKhan headed each Clan. In the Council, the Khans of all the Clans sat in carved granite seats behind broad marble topped tables in the places prescribed for them. Behind each desk there hung an archaic cloth banner, hand embroidered by some member of the labor caste, displaying the symbol of the Clan represented by the Khan and saKhan who sat beneath the banner. Each of the polished mahogany tables had concealed in their surfaces a wide array of data retrieval and display equipment.

Today only 34 seats were filled. Of the three missing Clans, two had been absorbed by larger, more powerful Clans. The third, the Not-Named Clan, had been wiped out in a bloody Trial of Annihilation because of the taint of a lust for power. As those Clans vanished for all time, their seats were left empty as a grim reminder to the surviving Clans of the price of failure or weakness. Also present in the room was the Loremaster, Kael Pershaw of Clan Jade Falcon. The Loremaster was the keeper of Clan law and history and presided over the Council meetings.

"Hear my words, Khans of the Clans," rang out the voice of the Loremaster. "I am Kael Pershaw and I serve as Loremaster for this gathering of the Grand Council. I hereby convene this conclave under the provisions of the Martial Code as laid down by Nicholas Kerensky. Because we exist in a state of war all matters shall be conducted according to its provisions."

"Seyla," the Khans intoned solemnly in unison.

Pershaw nodded to the ilKhan then resumed his seat. The ilKhan is the war-leader of the Clans elected from the members of the Grand Council. Since the vote to return to the Inner Sphere had been passed the Khan of the Smoke Jaguars, Leo Showers, had been elected to lead the invasion forces.

"My Khans," he began in a low tone, "we are about to embark on a journey that will pale in comparison to the Exodus. We are returning to the Inner Sphere to restore the Star League and bring order back to chaos. The events that led us to this point have shaped us all to be the best in the image The Founder set forth for us. When new information was presented to us a few months ago this Council voted to return back to Terra and reestablish the Star League. Clan Wolf opposed and requested a Trial of Refusal on the vote. They lost to my own Smoke Jaguar troops. Trials were then held for places in the invasion force. Clan Wolf, Jade Falcon, Ghost Bear, and Smoke Jaguar each placed high enough to guarantee them a place in the invasion. In consolation Steel Viper will help any of the four Clans with requests for additional garrison troops. In recognition of the lengths to which my Clan has gone to bolster the Crusader efforts, this Council elected me ilKhan of the invasion forces and for that I humbly thank you."

A small thunder of applause rippled through the room as the Khans thumped their fists on the tabletops. The sound made Showers more proud than the day he qualified as a warrior. Although the Clans were mostly a martial society, political backstroking in the Grand Council sometimes went much further than a PPC blast.

"Now before I depart with our forces are there any issues that must be attended to while all our forces are still on the home worlds?"

Rising from his seat slowly, dressed in the ceremonial garb minus the mask was the Khan of the Nova Cats. Showers nodded to the Khan and gestured with his arms to the entire room.

"This Council recognizes the Khan of the Nova Cats."

The Nova Cat Khan tugged at the sleeves of his jacket and stood there in parade rest formation for a moment or two before speaking directly at the ilKhan.

"What if the invasion force fails?"

Several gasps could be heard from the other Khans seated in the room, and the ilKhan seemed taken aback by the question.

"Your tone of voice borders on treason Khan Nova Cat. Are you challenging my ability to lead our forces, quiaff?"

"Neg. I am not worried about your abilities in the slightest ilKhan. I am merely asking what happens if we have underestimated the forces that oppose us? I know that I did not fight and defeat all but four Clans to take a back seat to this invasion that we have all dreamed about since the original Exodus."

The Nova Cat Khan clasped his hand behind him at the small of his back and stood there silently waiting for an answer from the ilKhan when the Khan of the Diamond Sharks vaulted from his seat.

"Yes, what happens if your forces do fail to pacify the denizens that General Kerensky left behind to wallow in their own stupidity?"

The ilKhan grasped the podium with both hands and spoke in a level voice, almost daring the Khans to challenge him or his methods.

"Are you suggesting we postpone the invasion even longer than it has been? To re-run the Trials to give you another chance to qualify and become part of the invasion fleet, quiaff?"

Jumping ahead of the response from the Diamond Sharks, the Nova Cat Khan spoke first. "Neg ilKhan. I am merely asking what contingency plans you have established for this operation."

The ilKhan smiled feeling confident that he had trapped the Nova Cats move for attention. "Clan Steel Viper is our contingency plan."

This time the Diamond Shark Khan spoke first.

"But ilKhan, as you previously mentioned, Steel Viper is part of the initial invasion force. Though they may be acting in a garrison role they would not be in position to thwart any counter thrust or deal with stronger than expected resistance. What then if the five Clans are unable to complete the conquest for Terra?"

The Nova Cat Khan nodded in silent salute to his counterpart. They had successfully pointed out a minor but important flaw in the development of the battle plain. The ilKhan was overconfident in his tactical skills and had not adjusted for more backup forces than he felt necessary.

Knowing there was no way now to overlook this flaw Showers smiled smugly at the Nova Cat Khan and addressed him informally to show his dislike for the man.

"Ok then Severen Leroux, what do you propose we do to amend the plans?"

If he noticed the change in title he hid it well.

"I demand a Trial of Refusal against your decision to withhold my Clan from any chance to participate in the invasion despite our standings from the initial Trial."

Mentioning the initial Trial had been done specifically to prevent this from turning into a melee for anyone that wanted to go as well. Since Clan Nova Cat and Diamond Shark had placed higher than any other Clan, save that of the five going, they were the only two in place to challenge the ruling that barred their involvement.

The ilKhan nodded in agreement and then looked directly at the Diamond Shark Khan. "Is there a second?"

"Aff, ilKhan. I second the motion."

"Then the motion is noted and will be put to a vote. Two thirds of the majority is needed for it to pass. In the event of a tie the Loremaster will cast the deciding vote."

The ilKhan motion to Pershaw and then stepped down from the podium. Pershaw climbed the few steps and addressed the Council.

"The motion for Nova Cat and Diamond Shark to be included in the invasion should problems arise is now presented before the Council. I will poll each of you individually. Vote Aye or Nay."

As the Pershaw went around the room to each Khan, Leroux sat patiently in his seat almost oblivious to the vote going on around him. He acted as if he already knew the outcome.

When the votes were tallied they leaned heavily in favor of the Nova Cats and Diamond Sharks. The Khan of the Diamond Sharks showed more elation at the vote being passed than did the Nova Cat Khan. But that was because it wasn't over yet. Both Clans now had to defeat another for the right to be included at all now. To lose would put them even worse off than they were before the vote was passed. Leroux smiled gratefully as Clan Steel Viper was accepted as challenger against the two in the Trial. The ilKhan acted quickly to prevent the issue from becoming an all out war, and restricted each side to a cluster of troops for each battle.

Leo Showers took his place again at the podium.

"Now, if there are no other issues let us adjourn this session of the Grand Council."

Forked Tongue Flats

Homer

Kerensky Cluster, Clan Steel Viper Holding

29 December 3048

1900 Hours

Inside the command tent warriors moved about their business during the attack. Radio operators were recording broadcasts and then feeding that info into the main computer. Liaison Officers to the Dropships took part in that information and deployed additional supplies, repair crews and medics where they would be most effective. Those movements were fed back into the computer for analysis of the battle. Another section of the radio transmission data was fed to the Tactical Officers huddled around maps and manuals in the area near the holographic map table. Their job was to record enemy losses and enemy troop movements as well as to document their own forces statistics. This information was also fed back into the computer for even more analysis.

The data taken from the radio broadcasts, the supply movements, and the clashes of the main force was broken down by the main system, analyzed, sorted, poured through a series of calculations, reanalyzed again, and then fed to the main holomap where the Commanding Officer stood watching it all unfold before him.

The computer had the ability, with the help of orbiting DropShips, to display a tactical map of several hundred square kilometers. If need be it could narrow down to show a specific group of mechs moving or battling. The Commanding Officer had several choices to make it easier to absorb and understand all the data being thrown at him. There were grids, sector warnings, assumptions of hidden movements, and battle feeds to provide the clearest picture of the battle. Right now the map was displayed at full scale outlining engagement areas in grids.

As the battles raged in those areas the computer marked the grid in a series of colors to indicate their status. Green was unengaged, yellow meant friendly and enemy forces had made contact, red meant the forces were currently fighting, white indicated a victory and black defeat. To the inexperienced eye the constant flashing of colors could be read as near disaster for the attacking forces. But the Commanding Officer knew that it was simply a real-time interpretation by the computer of the events as they were recorded. He was merely here to avert utter failure. His troops were the ones carrying their banner to the victory circle. He longed to be down there in the fray, his hands around the controls of a battlemech ready to unleash a tyrant of destruction on those that would assume to be better than his Clan. Unfortunately, in a decree by Khan Leroux, all senior level officers were banned from combat. Galaxy Commander John Rosse didn't have to like the order but he was honor-bound to obey it.

This fight would determine if the Nova Cats and the Diamond Sharks would be granted a place in line to be next in the invasion. Unconcerned with the plans of the Diamond Sharks, Khan Leroux gave Galaxy Commander John Rosse complete control of the operation. Those close to Rosse had rumored that the Khan had given him a simple order. "Crush them." Rosse took those orders to heart and order a complete restructuring of his Cluster command. Studying the battle ROMS from the previous Trial of Position, Rosse had discov ered a tactical flaw in the Viper's command structure. It seemed to him that they relied to heavily on unit cohesion. When units were split up or pilots thrown into the wrong Star to fill gaps, a lapse in performance was noted. Rosse intended to split them up enough to the brink of mass confusion and then drive the bulk of his forces like a wedge and split off groups to eliminate them piecemeal. Out on the plains where the battle was to take place there wouldn't be many places to hide large groups of mechs. The battle was going to be decided purely on the tactical plan. And the plan had continually worked to this point.

The initial clashes were made from the scouting elements of the 44th Striker Trinary. A strong showing of the lighter mechs lured the Vipers into a false sense of security. As their heavier elements moved into position to wipe out the scouts the "Morning Light" aerospace Star appeared overhead and attacked the Viper mechs as the scouts pulled back out of range. Without any air support of their own, many of the mechs fell to the aerial slaughter. When it became certain that the Viper force was completely occupied by the aerospace fighters, the Nova Cats moved in their medium and heavy mechs to finish off the survivors. While all this was unfolding, Bravo Trinary was rolling through the Vipers left flank separating groups away from their commanders and trapping them. The end elements of Bravo curled around to the right to encircle the lost Viper mechs and began a systematic elimination process. Alpha Trinary continued with the frontal assault, using heavy mechs and aerospace support. Charlie Trinary moved to the far left of the Nova Cat front and swung in with a flanking maneuver against their supply stores and rearguard elements. Rosse was sure that the shear loss of numbers and the disruption of logistical support would break the fighting spirit of Viper Cluster. They had detected the attempted break out of the Vipers left flank from Bravo's grip and squashed the push quickly. Rosse watched the large overview as the computer placed unit markers across the map and listed the relative strength of them. Many of the Viper units were at or below 50% effectiveness while most of his units still on the front line hung on between 70% and 80%. Rosse smiled as he calculated the rate of the battle to let him order mop-up operations in the next few hours. This day would bring him great honor in the eyes of his Clan.

"Galaxy Commander, "spoke a young warrior at one of the control boards, "Alpha Trinary reports two of its Stars about to enter the Steel Viper's rear echelon."

Rosse just nodded at the report and continued to watch the battle unfold on the holographic map table before him. Two Stars of Viper mechs, commonly referred to as a Binary, which had not been seen yet were still calculated to be in the rear area possibly shoring up defenses to prevent the total destruction of their supply and logistics. What he surmised was that the Vipers didn't know they were being slowly squeezed between the advancing elements of Alpha and Charlie Trinary. As the two symbols marking the Nova Cat Stars moved closer to the end of the engagement area the markings for the undamaged Viper Binary began to flicker. Rosse's eye immediately caught the movement and his heart skipped a beat when it vanished from the screen. His mechs moved into the area. Rosse stood straight up and was about to shout a command to locate the Trinary when another tech screamed out over the murmur of machines and men. He turned to face Rosse with a hand holding the headset firm on one ear to keep up with the radio broadcasts.

"CONTACT! Alpha Command reports new contact, grid Alpha Sierra Echo 45! Multiple targets inbound, requesting instructions and assistance Galaxy Commander!"

Rosse quickly looked back down at the map and barked a command at the computer. "Computer enhance the grid and bring up the reports on the new mechs!"

The map began to dissolve beneath him and was replaced with a much closer view of the ground. Tiny lights flickered at the ground level and grew into small scale battlemechs to represent the forces in the grid location. A scowl replaced the calm face that Rosse wore as he deliberated over the change in situation. Alpha Command was the command star for Alpha Trinary. Of the three stars that made up the Trinary, two were over 15 kilometers away now causing mayhem in what was left of the enemies rear areas. The next closest unit was a star of heavy mechs from Bravo Trinary, only they were an additional 7 kilometers to the rear of Alpha Command. If Rosse could some how get the two to link up then the battered units might stand a chance against the fresh troops of the Viper Binary. He would also use part of Charlie Trinary that was closing in on the backdoor of the Vipers to come in behind the new Binary to seal off any retreat.

Rosse turned to the men sitting at the computer terminals, "Comm Tech, open a priority channel to Bravo Heavy! Put it through here."

A small high-pitched chime rang out and a haze of static washed over the external speakers in the holotank.

"Bravo Heavy this is Big Cat, acknowledge." A short burst of static followed by a muffled response from the field came through the speakers.

"Big Cat this is Bravo Heavy, receiving."

"Bravo Heavy we have new Tangos inbound. Proceed at best possible speed to grid Alpha Sierra Echo 45. Link up with Alpha Command and assist. I will be sending Charlie Striker and Charlie Support to back you up. Acknowledge." Rosse had emphasized the word back in his command to Bravo Heavy.

"Big Cat, Bravo Heavy acknowledges. Please inform Alpha of our arrival. Bravo Heavy on the move."

Rosse tapped a button on the control panel of the map and the chime was repeated. "Charlie Command this is Big Cat, acknowledge"

This time there was no static as the response came through clear. "Big Cat this is Charlie Command receiving."

Rosse leaned overtop of the holomap his knuckles pressing into the edge of the unit. "Charlie Command we have new Tangos inbound, approaching grid Alpha Sierra Echo 45. We believe they have escaped from your meeting with Alpha Trinary. You are to link up with Alpha Support and Alpha Striker and continue operations. Detach Charlie Striker and Charlie Support to grid Alpha Sierra Echo 45 and instruct them to back up Tangos for Alpha Command and Bravo Heavy."

Again Rosse placed emphasis on the word back. This was to let them know at what angle they would be approaching the fight. Coming from behind their own troops would keep Bravo Heavy from firing into the fray causing friendly casualties. And coming from behind the new targets would let Charlie open fire knowing they would not be hitting their own people.

"Big Cat, Charlie Command acknowledges. Striker and Support are on the way now. Charlie Command out."

The static ceased from the speakers as the connection was closed. Rosse moved to bring up a comm channel to Alpha Command to let them know about the turn of events, when he was interrupted by one of the comm techs.

"Galaxy Commander, I think you need to hear this!" Without waiting for his acknowledgement the tech flipped a switch and the room was filled with the sounds of voices being broadcast from mechs hundreds of kilometers away. Fits of static popped in and out of the words making it difficult to fully understand what was being said. But it was enough to show that the situation looked grim.

"Star Commander ...they are not answering...zellbrigen...They...in weapons range in 1 min...Do they...mean...lee?"

The worry in the voice was plainly evident. A second voice piped through. “I suppose they do MechWa...We will... show...strength of a cornered....cat. Hold zellbrigen until they break it. Star Formation, I am the point. Riflemans...back ShadowCat to my left, Summoner to my right…Energy only, save the ammo for close range..."

A quick series of acknowledgments quipped over the radio and Rosse pressed his finger down to open a comm channel.

"Alpha Command this is Big Cat. Acknowledge"

A burst of static and then a voice replaced it. "Big Cat, Alpha Command Star Commander James here."

Rosse tried to calm the urgency and stress in his voice but to no avail. "Star Commander James! You are about to engage an unmolested Binary with your Star. Bravo Heavy is proceeding to your location. Prepare and execute a fighting withdraw and link with Bravo Heavy. Charlie Trinary is sending two Stars back to help. Acknowledge."

A few jaws dropped when the reply came back. "Neg Galaxy Commander. My Star and I will give no ground. Tell Bravo and Charlie to move faster. Star Commander James out." The disconnect chirp echoed into the now silent command center as several more faces dropped into a look of shock. Rosse's cheeks flushed crimson with rage as he stabbed at the comm button.

"Star Commander James!" Silence. "ALPHA COMMAND ACKNOWLEDGE!" Still more silence. "FREEBIRTH!," the Galaxy Commander screamed. "Send to Bravo and Charlie on direct-band, all mechs make absolute best speed to Alpha Command, melee to ensue. And open a general channel so I can hear what is going on while I watch. If that Star Commander lives through this, I will kill him myself for his insubordination. Alert Aerospace command to scramble anything they have to help, and prep the rest for immediate launch. This melee will not stop with this small group. I can guarantee that."

Rosse turned back to the holomap to watch the battle unfold without his control. The bustle of techs behind him sending out orders and moving troops was lost to his concentration of the map before him. Rosse scaled the map out to 3 kilometers square so he could see the engagement and hopefully catch the relief forces as they approached. He could see the Binary approaching in a wide front. All ten mechs seemed to be marching across in a straight line right at Alpha Command. If he is not careful they will surround him and it will be over, Rosse thought.

The miniature holographic mech pieces began to move about on the map. Alpha Command morphed into a slightly distorted 5-point star formation. The mech tags showed that James had placed his long-range fighters, two Rifleman IIC furthest away from the advancing enemy mechs. A ShadowCat A made up the front left side, and a Summoner C made up the right. Rosse glanced at James' mech and noticed that he was still piloting the Nova from his first Trial, only this time he had it in the A configuration. The 'A' configuration sported two Extended-Range PPCs in place of the twelve ER Medium Lasers. All five mechs were capable of fighting the battle at long range but a close range battle would surely benefit the punch of all of their weapons. Rosse really wanted to know what James had up his sleeve for this one. Sounds from the men in those magnificent machines poured through the speakers as reports came in from all over the field.

The techs finally narrowed the broadcast down to the four Nova Cat Stars involved in the pending battle. None of the pilots of Alpha Command seemed to be in a talkative mood, but the approaching Stars were chattering down the distances they had to travel. Rosse looked at the map as the first of the Viper mechs entered weapons range. All he could think was if James could hold on long enough, the others would be there to destroy whatever was left. Rosse halved the scale and the map adjusted accordingly. The mech images became 3-D as the data feed from the ships orbiting recorded the battlefield from several angles. The computer in turn interpreted the data and displayed the results in a mockup 3-D world. Each of the five mechs was poised ready to return fire on the Viper mechs, but none were moving to gain advantage in the fight. Also, strangely enough no one was firing. All the Viper mechs stopped their mechs just inside the maximum range for some of the weapons. To Rosse it looked as if two groups had stopped to stare down each other. Some of the mechs rotated their torsos slightly to take in the view of the other side. Rosse figured either James was thinking or running laserbeam comms since no communications were heard over the speakers.

A full thirty seconds had passed since the mechs had met. Rosse realized that he had broken into a sweat with anticipation of the first shots. He is stalling for time!

In ancient Terran times a book of religion described a day where all would die in the worst disasters known to man. If one who had read those texts stood in the middle of this battlefield, what happened next would come only second to the end of the world. Wondrous colors streaked back and forth as bolts of energy shot out from lasers on both sides. Particle Projection Cannons lashed out with their torrential blasts of lightning. Missiles streaked forth on white plumes of smoke and fire, and Gauss Rifles shuddered as spheres of metal about thirty centimeters in diameter were propelled at supersonic speeds by rings of electromagnets. Individual targets were dispensed with as a multitude of weaponry shattered or melted armor plates on all the mechs. Two Viper mechs near the middle dropped under the onslaught. James had split his PPCs to the two mechs that fell and the mechs to each side of him added to that blast with their combined fire. The Riflemans began to move in a criss cross pattern inside the Star formation, selectively firing their large pulse lasers at individual mechs. With the rapid fire of the pulse laser and the low heat it generated, the mechs were able to lash out consistently at multiple targets. Two more Viper mechs began to break ranks and charge closer to bring their short-range weapons into the mix. As they did Rosse watched as James and those in the Star, shifted their fire to the closing mechs effectively crushing them in a barrage of weapons fire. As the Riflemans continued to move to the outside of the star formation the ShadowCat and the Summoner went along with them. The sudden dispersal of targets confused some of the Viper mechs as the degree of firepower lessened for a moment or two. Rosse saw James take that lull and begin to move his mech backwards, increasing the distance between himself and the Viper mechs. The computer showed moderate damage to all five Nova Cat mechs but it was the Viper mechs that were falling. So far the computer had recorded and displayed a destroyed Viper, Mad Dog, Incubus, and a Crossbow. A Hellbringer moved from the line to challenge the Rifleman and the Summoner over on the right side of the field. A quickly aimed shot forced a round of LRM20s from the Hellbringer to sail harmlessly between the Summoner and the Rifleman. The computer displayed four pulse lasers from the Rifleman and an Extended-Range Large Laser blast from the Summoner ripping away both arms of the Hellbringer and attesting to the skill of the Nova Cat pilots. Although no sound was being feed from the field, Rosse could imagine the bark of the Summoner's Ultra Autocannon 20 as it slammed depleted uranium rounds into the right knee joint of the enemy mech. The sudden lose of mobility and balance caused the mech to stumble and it came to a halt on its knees. Before the pilot could bring the mech back to its feet a surge of cobalt energy carved itself through the head of the mech and exited out the back. Without the neural impulses from the pilot controlling the gyro of the prone machine it simply fell forward to the ground. James turned his attention to the left flank as a Phoenix Hawk IIC attempted to fire his jump jets to rise over the ShadowCat. The Nova's left ER PPC ripped through the left torso of the rising mech. A silvery flash of light jumped from the chest of the mech signifying that his shot crushed one of the jump jet engines. As the mech began to spiral out of control, it slammed back to the ground and cart wheeled away from the line of Viper mechs. The pilot of the Rifleman IIC on the left ejected from the mech as it finally succumbed to its injuries. The ShadowCat dispatched the downed Rifleman's tormentor with a pair of laser blasts that severed a leg and turned the cockpit to a pool of melted glass and armor. Rosse turned his attention back to the right side of the field.

The Summoner was marching directly at a Viper Gargoyle while the Rifleman begun to run to the right, rotating the torso to keep its weapons on target. The Gargoyle seemed to be having a conflict in trying to decide which mech to concentrate on. Whenever it would try to face one, the other increased the weapons it was using drawing the attention back to itself. The Gargoyle began to move forward to close the distance to the Summoner but in doing so it exposed its back armor to the circling Rifleman. The Gargoyle only lasted a few more seconds with the laser fire being poured through its weaker back armor. The detonation of the fusion engine inside the mech knocked the Rifleman over and it slid to a halt on its front side. As it tried to right itself, one of the two remaining Viper mechs, a Stormcrow, knocked it back to the ground with a hail of missiles. Before it was able to aim the lasers in its left arm at the fallen Rifleman, a pair of PPC blasts slammed into the side of it a second apart from each other. The force of the impacts nearly toppled the mech over but the pilot managed to keep it on its feet by turning with the momentum of the impacts. However, in doing so it exposed the back armor to the Summoner and once again the UAC/20 belched forth smoke and metal coring the beast and leaving the empty hulk standing alone on the battlefield.

The final Viper mech had been trying to implement a fighting withdraw to escape the total destruction of its Binary.The ShadowCat had been repeatedly harassing the mech with its lasers and jump jets. It had chased the mech for a short distance adding casual laser fire to keep it from getting far. When the pilot would turn around to return fire the ShadowCat pilot would hit the jump jets and fire off a volley of homing Streak missiles. The Viper mech kept missing each time it turned, only to suffer further damage from the missiles.

Finally, after one particular damaging laser shot, the pilot decided they had had enough of this "cat and mouse" game and punched out, leaving a fairly recoverable mech for the victors.

Rosse stood up straight from the map and clasped his hands behind his back. A wide grin grew across his face as he watched the mobile members of the Command Star of Alpha Trinary move away from the battle scene to collect their downed comrade from the Rifleman. The courage and skill of these Nova Cat pilots would have to be made known to all, Rosse decided. It would not be fitting to just have the tale recounted in the Chronicle of Battles ritual before each fight. Rosse would see that the battle was somehow added to the Remembrance.

The Remembrance was an ongoing heroic saga that described Clan history from the time of the Exodus to the present day. Each Clan maintained its own version, reflecting its opinions and perceptions of events. Rosse's perception of this event was to find out the details of what happened, and then start training his entire Galaxy to respond with the same intensity of James' creativity.

A familiar chirp rang out over the speakers, and James' voice filled the room. "Big Cat, Alpha Command. Acknowledge."

Rosse stepped over the comms control panel attached the map unit and answered the call. "Big Cat receiving."

The frenzy of battle was still strong in James voice. "Star Commander James here. Viper Binary is destroyed. I have a man down. Requesting med evac, my Star to return to base camp under our own power after. Please inform Bravo and Charlie assistance no longer required."

"Copy that Star Commander. Big Cat congratulates you on a stellar victory. Medics are in route. Big Cat out." Rosse said in an unemotional tone. For him the battle wasn't over yet. There was still fighting going on even though it was rather apparent that the Nova Cats had won the day. And more importantly, they had won the chance to be included in the Invasion of the Inner Sphere.

Clan Council Chamber

Barcella

Kerensky Cluster, Clan Nova Cat Home World

1 February 3049

0900 Hours

The echo of Sabian's dress boots reverberated in the granite hall that lead to the Council Chamber. He received the call this morning from the Oathmaster to meet her, Khan Severen Leroux, and the saKhan here at 0900. Sabian had asked what it was about, but the Oathmaster assured him that all questions would be answered upon his arrival. Sabian thought that perhaps his belly-aching about being first made solahma and then forced to train new sibkos, made it to the higher ups and they had grown tired of him. Perhaps they would be placing him at the head of a unit to fight in the invasion. Cannon fodder. The words sent a chill down his spine. There was no honor in being sent to die so that fresh young warriors would survive another day. But if that was his Khan's wish then he would accept it graciously, and then gripe about it later.

Sabian entered the large chamber and spotted the Oathmaster sitting in one of the floor seats looking up at the ceiling. Neither the Khan nor the saKhan were present. Sabian walked over to where the Oathmaster was sitting. Puzzled by the look on her face he diverted his attention to the point she was intently staring at. The ceiling was made of granite and ferrocrete, much like the rest of the room they occupied. There were no other colors except for gray and the craftsmanship was flawless. No bumps or bubbles or cracks were visible to the naked eye. Sabian just stood there looking for something that was obviously lost on him. The Oathmaster raised her hand to the ceiling and pointed a finger at something. Sabian watched her arm extend fully, and instead of fixing on one point she spread her fingers and waved her hand across the ceiling. Sabian looked down at her, completely confused.

The Oathmaster smiled at him and folded her hands in her lap. In a soft tone she explained her actions. "Do you see the specks of rock and marble in the ceiling ferrocrete? They remind me of the planets in the universe. Each one is insignificant on a grand scale. But if you look closely each one is responsible for keep ing the universe from falling apart. Each one holds a duty to the others. Without knowing it, or caring why."

Sabian's face smoothed as his listened to her words. Not everyone could figure her out, but sometimes it just took listening to her.

"Much like our own Clan." Sabian said matter-of-factly.

The Oathmaster smiled at Sabian and nodded for him to continue in his explanation.

"Each of us is insignificant if you look at the Clan on the grand scale. No one person shapes the Clan. But together we control the fate of the Clan, whether we win or loose. It is up to all of us to succeed in order for the Clan to succeed."

"I am pleased how well you see the world around you Sabian. I was right when I selected you for this task."

She sat there just smiling up at Sabian who had now tilted his head to the side, unsure where this conversation was leading. She stood up and crossed the room, plucking a sealed package from the top of the podium. She returned to her seat and set the package down on the seat next to hers. "Do you understand the term 'contingency', quiaff?"

Sabian tapped his chin with his left fore finger for a second or two. "Aff. If I am not wrong it refers to an unknown possibility or unpredictable event," he replied.Again the Oathmaster nodded. "You are correct Galaxy Commander. In battle, one must have a contingency plan. The enemy could show up where you least expect it. They could have forces you did not know about or they could attack earlier than you prepared for. In the politics of the Grand Council it is very similar. But the battle lines are vague and never stable."

Sabian took a step back and folded his arms across his chest. "Grand Council? Oathmaster I am afraid I do not follow your line of thinking."

Biccon sighed as she shifted in her chair to become more comfortable. "Of course not Sabian. And I will tell you why. In the Grand Council, Smoke Jaguar Khan Leo Showers had presented factual evidence that the House of the Inner Sphere were trying to reform the Star League. However they are trying to form it under a banner of blood and war. And to match their intensity it looks as if they are trying to find the lost Star League Defense Forces that left with General Kerensky all those years ago. To find us now would give them leave to invade our homes and take back what they assume to be theirs." She paused for a brief second to let the information soak in and then she continued.

"Then Leo Showers called for a vote to begin our return to the Inner Sphere. To reconstruct the Star League and bring peace back to the barbarians that try to govern over those that deserve better. Our Khans voted to yes and the motion passed to go. As you are well aware, the Council held Trials to fight for a place in the invasion force and we failed to secure a place in the initial assaults. After winning a Trial of Refusal, fought against the Steel Vipers, we gained a place should the initial assaults fail. In their haste the Khans of our Clan begged me to seek a vision to see if our chance to participate in the invasion would come. The vision I returned to them was more than I had cared tobe privy to."

Sabian became unsettled at those last words. He moved to the chair next to her and motioned for her to continue.

"In my vision I saw the wolf, the cat, the falcon and the bear moving effortlessly from planet to planet across a great expanse of space, trailing wisps of white mist. Other symbols of our Clans joined in the race across the galaxy, then suddenly the mist became a thick, roiling cloud. It swallowed everything we had and then there was no more. When the Khans asked my interpretation I told them that I saw the destruction of the Clans. They asked if the Nova Cat was one of the Clans racing across the Inner Sphere. When I told them that it was, they took that as all the news they needed to know and dismissed my warning of our annihilation."

Sabian shot out of his chair with a glare of fire in his eyes. His voice boomed with rage. "Then we must make them see what you have seen. The destruction of our Clan cannot be allowed. If they will not listen to you then a Trial of Grievance must be called!"

Biccon placed a hand on his arm and motioned for him to sit and listen to her.

"What I have seen is not to be changed. The Khans will not move from their course. All we can do is prepare a contingency for this."

With that she reached over and retrieved the package. Breaking the seal she reached inside, pulled out a document and placed in front of Sabian to read. He picked up the paper and began to scan over its contents.

"This document removes the title of solahma from you Sabian. It also restores you to command of a Cluster. I am sorry that I could not give you back a Galaxy command. Furthermore, it grants you control over three sibko classes, none of which are ready for testing. You also have full control over your staff, your techs and your laborers. I am giving you the responsibility of protecting the Clans lifeline. If we are doomed to failure then you will have the task of rebuilding the Nova Cats. If all the Clans are wiped out then you will carry on the dream of Nicholas Kerensky and you will rebuild the Clans. To accomplish this task will be no small feet. You will be given materials, mechs, replacement parts, anything you would need to sustain the growth and nurturing of Clan youth into warriors. I have hand picked your staff to follow you. A small contingent of scientists will bring with them the resources necessary to continue to grow new sibkos. It will be like creating the Clan all over again."

Sabian's eyes grew wide and the color drained from his face as the Oathmaster continued to explain her plans for him. Sabian's group was to board a set of Dropships, which were two OverLord-C Class ships for the materials and mechs, and a Union Class for the personnel. A single Sovetskii Soyuz Warship would take them from Barcella and transport them over a few months to a planet in the Periphery of the Inner Sphere, out of the direct line of the Invasion forces, and they would secretly remain there until they were called back. If no call ever came, they were to continue to build and grow, and then return home to take back the worlds the Clans would have lost. Once home was retaken, they would rebuild the Clans, continue the invasion and succeed where the others would have failed.

Sabian regained his composure when she laid all of the details and the responsibility out for him. For such an honor to be bestowed on a Clansmen, to become the savior of his Clan, ranked in the grand scheme of things with the great Aleksandr Kerensky leading the SLDF forces out of the Inner Sphere in 2784. But something still plagued his thoughts. Leaving his clan behind. Not going along to fight, or at least convincing someone that more forces might avert disaster.

"Oathmaster, I am honored that you deem me worthy of such a task, and I accept it with all my heart. Yet, I do have some questions I need answers to."

"Ask Sabian. I would not want you to have only some of the facts."

"What am I to do if discovered?" She sat there for a moment, pondering the depth of the question.

"If you mean by our own people, the orders have been given the necessary reasons and approvals. Your mission has been classified as pertinent to our survival as children of Kerensky and therefore even the ilKhan himself could not forbid it. If you mean while you are quietly living on your remote world, then you are to know that you are Clan. Protection of yourself, your people and your assets falls directly to you. Use whatever means are at your disposal to eliminate any threat of discovery. If that means you have to setup underground on an uninhabitable planet to avoid detection, then I want you to make that decision for everyone. They are following your lead and you must be a true leader. Both in warfare and in politics."

Sabian nodded in understanding. "When do I leave?" he asked lastly.

"The Khans have been granted permission to view the invasion from another Clan's corridor. You will be leaving on your own ship that day to mask the jump out. Tell no one of this. Not even your friend Galaxy Commander Mikel Drummond must know. Extreme secrecy will protect you until you come home."

"I understand Oathmaster."

Biccon rose from her chair, gathered the documents up and stuffed them back in their envelope. She motioned for him to follow her out of the chambers. They walked in silence to another room down the hall. They entered and closed the door behind them. Biccon opened up a second door in the room and motioned for another person to join them.

"Galaxy Commander Sabian Rosse, allow me to introduce you to your first volunteer." Sabian turned around and looked at a young man standing at attention in a plain gray jumpsuit. Just below his left collarbone was a patch to denote the wearer to be a MechWarrior. The warrior snapped a salute, which Sabian returned whole-heartedly. The Oathmaster stepped up next to the two men. "Sabian, I would like you to meet MechWarrior David.”