7
The Coliseum, Silesia
Solaris City, Solaris
Federation of Skye, Lyran Commonwealth
15 August 3017
Gray Noton leaned forward in his command couch, left hand slamming the throttle full-forward. Though he knew the idea was ridiculous, he couldn’t help the physiological reaction as he tried to imbue his Rifleman with every ounce of energy to push the ’Mech to its limit. The dozen-meter-tall avatar of manmade death darted forward at sixty-four kilometers an hour, at an odd angle as though it might fall over, as the machine’s two-meter-long feet pounded into the sandy floor of the massive, Class V Coliseum arena.
With the movable partitions separating portions of the massive fighting floor already on their way down, Noton knew his adversary expected him to fall back and keep range. After all, why close when he outranged his opponent’s Victor with almost every weapon at his disposal?
But he’ll expect it. Never do the expected. And I know what you’ll try, Hoftsteder: what every MechWarrior from Fitzhugh Stable is trained for in the Coliseum.
Noton leaned back into the command couch; sweat stung his eyes. The weight of his neurohelmet, a well-known friend, rubbed his shoulders as he pulled the throttle smoothly back. The Rifleman almost slid on the sandy ground, coming to an abrupt halt at the edge of the descending partition. Dragging his weapon’s joystick into the air, his BattleMech’s long arms—paired Magna large lasers and Imperator-A autocannons—searched for a target.
Right … about …
The eighty-ton Victor vaulted into view on the blindingly bright plasma of its jump jets before the massive partition was barely halfway down.
Noton grimaced. His aim was off by a good two meters, but he quickly swung the targeting reticule in line as it burned bright gold across his HUD. He grinned wickedly and pulled the triggers, managing pinpoint accuracy despite the machines’ relative motions. Twin cerulean beams flashed, gouging white-hot furrows and sloughed off armor in blobs of already cooling slag. The autocannons followed, vomiting metal towards the target, chewing into the already damage right leg. Recoil and the rapidly dropping BattleMech attempted to walk the streams up the Victor’s leg, but Noton kept his aim on track, savaging the last of the limb’s armor and sinking deep into the ’Mech’s shin. Secondary flashes of bright light spawned from additional internal structural damage within the blackened cavity.
Hyperfocused, time seemed to dial down. Against the waves of waste heat washing through the cockpit after the alpha strike, Noton gasped and watched the Victor touch down.
Come on … come on!
The assault ’Mech’s leg crumpled under the hard impact of the jump. The Victor listed heavily before collapsing to the ground in a roar.
Time sped back up. Noton’s second-to-last bout before the finals was finished. The roar of the crowd—heard even through the cockpit—replaced the rumble of his adversary’s limb-shattering fall.
Noton backed away just in case Hoftsteder hadn’t yet realized he’d lost, then he played to the crowd by raising the barreled arms of his Rifleman into the air, a titanic gladiator excepting his due from a rapturous audience.
They already called him Legend-Killer for taking the championship last year, and this victory set him well on his way to another championship. They all underestimated him.
Wait till my other Rifleman is ready. Then I’ll really own this world and topple every MechWarrior from their Valhalla thrones.
RIFLEMAN “LEGEND-KILLER”
A truly ancient BattleMech design, the Rifleman debuted before the Star League in 2505. Several variants attempted to redress some of the original’s design flaws. The RFL-3N received widespread acceptance and was heavily produced for the Star League Defense Force.
While the name “Legend-Killer” is used interchangeably to reference both BattleMech and pilot, the Rifleman Legend-Killer was piloted by Gray Noton to a series of smashing successes in the Solaris VII arenas during the 3016–3022 seasons. For seven years Legend-Killer reigned as champion, a feat unmatched in nearly 250 years of arena combat. To the delight and surprise of spectators, the sixty-ton Rifleman often faced assault-class BattleMechs and defeated them. While Noton’s skills are undeniable, the continued exceptions of what should’ve been a rare occurrence lead to rumors that Legend-Killer was actually a much higher-mass design than its reported sixty tons, or was possibly upgraded with Star League–era lostech Noton found in the Periphery during his time as a mercenary.
Regardless of the truth, Legend-Killer remains a name known and feared across the Inner sphere.
Written by Randall Neil Bills
Catalyst Game Labs
RIFLEMAN ORTHOGRAPHIC
