2
Near Manufacturing Plant DSF-8
Paxon
Clan Homeworlds
13 March 3039
The enraged titan lashed out.
The Kingfisher, ninety tons of anthropomorphic tank, stumbled as the seething, two-meter-deep ochre-colored water slowed the assault BattleMech to a crawl. The machine managed to stay standing in the chemically destroyed lowland lake of the badlands south of Manufacturing Plant DSF-8. In its continued tantrum, the ’Mech raised its left-arm weapons pod and hammered it into a sickly tree barely staving off death. The trunk shattered, spewing a swath of fibrous chunks across the unwholesome water. Then the machine lashed out once more with an array of emerald beams of energy, some impotently stabbing the sky, others vaporizing water in a slashing line into the distance.
From the cockpit of his Viper, Medusa, Star Captain Dwillt Radick grinned savagely as he watched the dumb, stupid giant on his forward viewscreen, clearly seen despite the extreme heat eddies. The Kingfisher was too slow and inept to keep up with his forty-ton Medusa. He clenched his jaw to open a channel-wide commline. “Surat,” he began, sarcasm cloying the air with disdain. “Seeing your Kingfisher trapped here seems appropriate. Your BattleMech’s namesake may be a master hunter in water, but you have become the prey, Shark.”
Rage boiled in return back across the commline, and for a moment Dwillt imagined the assault BattleMech shivering in sympathetic unison to its MechWarrior’s anger.
“You have no honor, dog!” Star Captain Nikkil responded. “You run and you slash. A real warrior would face me on the plain where this began.”
Dwillt’s barking laugh mimicked a dog’s before morphing into a wolf howl, making the denigrating remark his own. “I simply fight to the strength of my BattleMech. And I am always aware of my terrain. Your current predicament tells me you cannot say the same, which ensures my victory. Why do you not end this Trial of Possession now, surat, and save further embarrassment to your Bloodname? Turn over the next production run of components for the Stormcrow, as per our batchall, and you may yet live long enough to see more worthy Diamond Shark warriors earn their bloodrights.”
The titan lashed out in greater fury.
The blare of a target lock distracted Dwillt. His eyes swept across his instruments as a rain of long-range missiles pummeled his position. Detonations tore at his armor, causing the BattleMech to stumble in the copse of trees where he’d hidden not six hundred meters from the warrior he’d been terrorizing. The blistering heat of the day and the whole region’s heavy metallic content—wastewater and runoff from centuries of heavy industry—neatly hid Dwillt’s Viper.
Until now.
His grin slipped as he realized the Kingfisher pilot was more astute than he had believed. You lost me but then allowed me to taunt you—as you knew I would—while your warriors eluded my own to find me.
The Kingfisher’s weapons were already locking onto him—his position given away by the other attack. Long-range missiles ignited out of the ’Mech’s torso. The machine lurched forward, lumbering once again through the viscous lake to bring its more powerful weapons to bear.
Dwillt let off another wolf howl at the extra challenge and stomped down onto his jump-jet pedals to hurtle the Viper out of harms way. The Kingfisher and its remaining Starmates would still go down to defeat this day!
VIPER “MEDUSA”
One of the first OmniMechs designed by Clan Fire Mandrill (a Homeworld Clan whose bid to participate in Operation REVIVAL failed), the Viper was a superb success. While underarmed and underarmored for its weight, it made up for such deficiencies with an amazing top speed of 129 kilometers per hour and a stunning jump capacity of 240 meters. Despite such quick-strike capacity, the model ultimately fell out of favor and was gifted to Clan Ghost Bear as part of a larger production deal. However, in less than half a century, the production might of Clan Ghost Bear transformed the Viper—designated “Dragonfly” by Inner Sphere forces—into one of the premier medium-class OmniMechs for a variety of Clans, including Clan Wolf.
Star Colonel Dwillt Radick is as flashy and hotheaded as his Sixteenth Battle Cluster. A superlative pilot and excellent tactician, Dwillt loves taunting his enemies, using his Medusa’s unparalleled speed and maneuverability to keep outside the reach of heavier opponents while his knife slashes wear them down to defeat. That hint of cruelty applies off the battlefield as well: as an ardent Crusader, he terrorizes anyone with Warden leanings.
All of these traits ensure Star Colonel Radick’s rise will continue.
Written by Randall Neil Bills
