“Fight!”

As soon as the robot Judge’s arms crossed together, Lidiya released the breath she’d been holding, jammed the throttle joystick forward, while simultaneously cranking the control column and directional joystick to the right as far as they would go. It was a double whammy of input that forced her Lightning Saix to launch itself to the right with all the power it could muster. In fact, it leaned over so much to the ground, that its clawed paws struggled for purchase.

Shit!

Lidiya screamed in her head and straightened the control column halfway back to center while keeping the directional joystick bent hard over. The Saix levelled out by twenty to thirty degrees, its legs no longer pinwheeling beneath the sixty-five tonne biomech, and its feet dug into the ground, pushing the Zoid into a high acceleration sprint across a deserted that resembled overlapping carpets of rock.

With her left thumb, Lidiya pressed a button on the throttle controller that triggered the Saix to retract the claws on all its feet. The Zoid was moving. She wouldn’t need them again until she got close to her quarry whereupon she intended to use those close to rend her opponents apart. Thus, it was best to save them from wear and tear as her powerful biomech raced across the hard terrain.

Messed up. Messed up—messed up!

She was moving perpendicularly to her opponents, putting distance between them and her.

Make for the rocks—find cover!

She didn’t dare waste time glancing into her rearview side-screens. Her focus was almost wholly on piloting the Saix on a beeline for a group of massive rock formations about two kilometers ahead of her. Beneath her – around her – the Saix was putting on as much speed as it could muster, and Lidiya’s right thigh twinged incessantly as her G-suit transmitted to her what the Saix was feeling.

Not good.

Even if it pained her Zoid, Lidiya still needed all the speed it could deliver to give the Red Horns a hard time turning to follow her. In order to shoot their AZ (anti-Zoid) triple-barrel linear cannons, the Red Horns had to turn their bodies to aim at their target. Not being fleet of foot put them at a disadvantage against Lidiya’s Saix even when her biomech wasn’t at its best. However, the lumbering leviathans had ways of compensating for their lack of mobility.

A cockpit alarm sounded. It didn’t scream at her, nor did it yell, because Lidiya had turned the volume down after she grew tired of hearing its shrill beeping. Now it was loud enough to be heard without being a distraction. She knew the tone well and what it meant.

Missiles.

Lidiya quickly looked at the tactical plot on the cockpit’s large, center screen. The 2D map rotated slightly as her Saix made a minor course correction for the rocks ahead of her. Three missile icons tracked toward her in the middle of the scrolling map. A single caption floated beside the inbound warheads listing bearing and speed, but time to impact was the only one that mattered to her.

Nine seconds.

The lumpy, contorted rocks ahead of her were looming large as her Lightning Saix charged toward them.

Eight seconds.

She decided to head directly for the nearest of the rocks, rather than go around it for cover.

Seven seconds.

She used her left thumb to press a button on her throttle joystick.

Six seconds.

The Lightning Saix extended the claws on all its feet.

Five seconds.

The sleek biomech arrived at the foot of the rock formation that was literally a small mountain at least 110-meters tall.

Four seconds.

The Saix’s sharp claws helped it gain traction up the sloped side of the rock.

Three seconds.

Halfway up the massive outcropping, Lidiya flicked up the safety cover on the boosters’ trigger.

Two seconds.

She squeezed the trigger with her left index finger and the Saix’s twin-boosters came alive as the stabilizing planes swung out from the pack.

One second.

The extra thrust propelled the Zoid to the narrow ridge at the outcropping’s peak.

Zero.

As the Zoid suddenly accelerated, the missiles turned to follow but ran out of room and slammed into the rock face below the Saix. The detonations fragmented rocks into powder and the overlapping shockwaves flung Lidiya’s Zoid well over the little mountain. It flew at least a hundred feet before it started falling down the opposite side of the massive outcropping. In the cockpit, Lidiya watched the landscape tilt towards her as the Saix fell and she cut the boosters in a panic.

Bad, bad, BAD!

The Zoid’s front paws landed on the slanted rock face of the little mountain. They found some purchase, then pushed off as the rear legs were touching down. Afterwards the Saix was running down the sloped side of the outcropping, struggling not to slip and tumble or it was going to be a long fall to the desert floor. Lidiya had never piloted a Saix down a mountain side, though in reality she was more of a passenger since the Zoid was doing all the navigating, finding its footing as it ran.

And it almost succeeded.

The biomech came within twenty meters of level ground when it suddenly slipped and tumbled like a man falling down a flight of stairs. The cockpit went dark a few times as the world spun around Lidiya and the canopy lost its fake transparency. For several heartbeats after landing with a loud crash, she feared her Saix would suffer a system freeze that would automatically relegate her out of the battle. It wasn’t until after the Saix wobbled back onto its feet that Lidiya realized she was still in the fight. The canopy was transparent again, giving her a dusty view of the world outside the Zoid as the landslide the fall had triggered settled around her Lightning Saix.

She had to keep moving. Only one of the Red Horns had fired its missiles, leaving the second Red Horn with missiles in its launch tubes. There was also the Dark Horn to consider. The walking fortress had triple the firepower of its companions. Seeking them out, Lidiya frantically studied the tactical map. The three tokens for the Red Horns and Dark Horn had turned amber. The Saix was guesstimating their location because it had lost sensor lock on them. Lidiya blamed it on the towering rock formations surrounding her. They hid her from the enemy but also hid them from her.

As she was glaring at the map, her commlink came alive with a call from Ronin. He sounded almost bored when he asked, “Lidiya, are you all right?”

His lackluster tone annoyed her a little. “I’m fine. Took a tumble but my Saix is mostly in the green.” In other words, she only had a few yellow warning indicators on the status console to her left. “I’ve lost track of the Horns.”

On the tactical map, the Shadow Fox’s location showed it hiding out in another rock formation to the north, while she was holding position within the outcroppings to the south. That put their opponents to the east well over a kilometer away from her position. However, while she didn’t know exactly where the enemy Zoids were, she had a fix on the Fox because it was transmitting its location on the back of the commlink carrier wave. Hence, while they could talk to each other, they would know where the other was.

“Now what?” she asked. “If I can’t track them—?”

“Here.”

Abruptly, the amber tokens on her tactical map turned green, while two of them simultaneously jumped across the map toward her location.

“What the heck?” she muttered, then asked, “Ronin, I suddenly got a sensor lock on the red horns.”

“While we’ve got comms, I’m sending you the sensor feed from the Fox. The Red Horns are headed your way. And I’ve got the Dark Horn to deal with.”

Lidiya stared stunned at the map, then looked at the HUD on her canopy. The sensor data from the Shadow Fox complemented the Saix’s efforts to scan for their opponents. She now had two green tokens at her ten o’clock on the HUD representing the Red Horns on approach.

“They’re coming my way?”

“They’re trying something new.” Ronin paused to add, “The Dark Horn’s in my gun range so I’m thinking of playing with it a little. While I do that, you circle behind them to the east. There are more rocks in that direction for you to use as cover. Snipe them from there.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Don’t worry. You’ve got this.”

The comm channel remained open, but Ronin wasn’t talking anymore. Instead, Lidiya saw a message appear on her HUD – a message from the Fox to the Saix. As she read it, she grew annoyed with her brother and Deacon, but then took a few deep breaths to calm down.

Fine. If they want to cheat, then let them. I’ll beat them fair and square.

Biting her lower lip, she studied the tactical display more carefully.

Get behind them. Sure, no problem.

However, the enormous rocks had leveled the battlefield, giving Ronin and Lidiya their best opportunity at winning all afternoon.

One victory. That’s all I’m asking for. Just one damned victory.

With grim determination, Lidiya pushed the joysticks forward on her control column to get her Saix moving again. How she’d avoided severe damage with that fall was beyond her, but she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. The Lightning Saix ran slowly eastward between the outcroppings as Lidiya worriedly regarded the green tokens on the map drawing closer to her.

***

In the hangar bay, Aaron and Deacon sat on a couple of chairs with cushions that they’d brought down from the loft. They each had a large tablet resting on their laps that were connected via cables to a router. That piece of hardware was then connected to the Shadow Fox’s cockpit by a long, thick transmission cable attached to a data access port hidden behind an armored panel below the Zoid’s left ear. Bridging the Shadow Fox to the Lightning Saix was another cable about six meters long that hung from below the Fox’s right ear to a universal access port behind the Saix’s jaw. Getting the components wired together and then interfaced between cockpits had taken a good hour and some trial and error. The final task was to add the two tablets Aaron and Deacon held to the network. Once all the bridging, pairing, and interfacing was working, the group had gotten down to the business of running battle simulations.

Ronin and Lidiya sat in the cockpits of their respective Zoids, while Aaron and Deacon played the part of the Triple-Horn Team. However, the one driving or powering the simulation was the Backdraft AI contained in a box housed within a small compartment at the rear of the Shadow Fox’s cockpit.

Staring unhappily at the battlefield map on his tablet, Deacon asked, “Are you sure it’s not cheating? I mean, piggy-backing the sensor feed on the commlink?”

Aaron started to shrug but he was too busy planning which way his Dark Horn was going to go. “No, it’s allowed under Battle Commission rules, so it’s fine.”

Deacon regarded his Red Horns as they neared the rock outcropping that Lidiya was using for ground clutter. “They don’t know we’re listening to their comms. Maybe we shouldn’t do it.”

Aaron shook his head. “The harder we make it for them, the better the training.”

Deacon accepted that with a faint nod, then looked up at the cable connected to the Shadow Fox above him. “I have to say…the Backdraft have some crazy advanced technology.”

“I’d say it’s more scary than crazy.”

Deacon noticed Aaron rubbing his chin thoughtfully and quickly reviewed the battle map on his tablet but didn’t see anything worrying. “What’s wrong?”

“The Fox keeps disappearing on me,” Aaron muttered in a low voice. “The battle AI’s taking the Zoid’s stealthrun system into account. Either that or Ronin has activated his ECM and ECCM.”

“Oh…I see what you mean.” Deacon exhaled quickly before taking a short breath. “You better watch yourself. If he winks out on you again like last time—”

“I know, I know. You worry about my sister. She made you spend half your missiles already. And she’s getting better at climbing up rock walls.”

“Well, she hasn’t beaten me yet,” Deacon said, then wilted slightly as a guilty thought weighed heavily on him. “Don’t you think…we’re having too much fun?”

Aaron took a chance to look away from his tablet and regarded Deacon instead. “Whatever you do, don’t tell them that.”

“Agreed. This is training. It’s not fun.”

“No pain, no gain. Right?”

The two men then bumped fists and resumed engaging their teammates in battle.

***

Lidiya continuously studied her tactical map and the HUD indicators.

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The two Red Horns had decided to split up and go around the rock that she’d leapt over less than a minute ago, probably aiming for a pincer move. However, they never went through with the maneuver. Instead, one of them backtracked and started to circle around another large rock to the east. Essentially, they were widening the jaws of their pincer move to take in more area. That worried Lidiya, and she began strongly suspecting that the Red Horns knew where she was. After all, how did that second Red Horn know to turn around and circle wider to the east when she almost had him dead in her sights?

They’re not going to trap me this time.

She had speed on her side and her close-in combat ability. That’s what the extra, long claws of her Saix were for. Conversely, the Red Horns had the advantage of tough armor and heavy firepower. They had almost no blind spots. All that said, there was one thing Lidiya’s Saix and the Red Horns had in common. Neither Zoid could swivel their biggest guns. Their heaviest, most powerful arsenal was locked in the forward firing position. What Lidiya didn’t know until this morning was that it didn’t have to be that way. Olivier de Laventura’s white Lightning Saix had a thruster pack with pulse laser guns that could swivel and pitch up and down. Had Lidiya’s Saix been similarly equipped it would have made fighting the Red Horns much easier.

Make do. Make do.

Nevertheless, she had resolved to find out if her Saix could be upgraded the same way…even if it meant asking de Laventura how he’d done it.

As her Zoid faced east, Lidiya looked northeast through the transparent canopy at a large rock outcropping that resembled the bow of a ship plunging out of the ground. When scanned by the Saix at her request, the HUD outlined the formation, giving estimates on size and weight, including a peak height of around ninety-five meters. She watched the token representing the second Red Horn continue circling to the east and decided to make her move.

If Ronin can do it, so can I.

With the claws on its feet extended, the Lightning Saix ran quietly toward the bow shaped rock rising out of the ground, and then climbed up its back. Lidiya kept the boosters off. She didn’t want to give herself away any more than she had to. Besides, the rock offered her Zoid good footing, so the Saix had little difficulty running up to the peak. Lidiya was careful though. The other Red Horn – the one with no more missiles – was behind her to the west, waiting at the gap between two immense outcroppings. She didn’t want to be spotted by that Red Horn as she maneuvered to pounce on its companion, so she piloted the Saix close to a rock wall that cast the biomech in shadow.

The missile capable Red Horn was below her, walking quickly through the pass between her rock formation and the next one to the east-southeast. Lidiya looked at it far below her, then checked how far down her pulse-laser rifles could angle. Unfortunately, in order to fire at the Red Horn, she would have to literally cling to the side of the steep rock with the Saix nosing toward the ground.

Do it now or don’t do it at all.

With claws extended, Lidiya jumped her Saix onto the Red Horn below her.

***

Clenching a fist in frustration, Deacon groaned in defeat. “System freeze.”

“What?” Aaron asked. “Oh…you lost one. What happened?”

“I lost in her the rocks, and she jumped on me. I did get off a few shots with the surface-to-air beam gun.” Deacon scratched the back of his neck as he contemplated the battle map. “I guess I’ll finish her off with my last Red Horn.” He paused before asking, “How’s it on your end?”

“Ronin made smoke. It’s filled up the desert floor between the rocks to the north where he’s hiding out.”

Deacon tapped commands to his second Red Horn. “Are you going in there?”

“I’m going to try shaking him out,” Aaron decided, then sent instructions to his lumbering behemoth. “But I’m pretty sure he’s not hiding out in the smoke.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because that’s what he did last time. He was hiding in the smoke. I’m certain he’s on the rocks, tucked under a ridge or overhang. But he’s not in the smoke.” Aaron tapped a touchscreen button. “But first. I’m going to get closer.” He waved at Deacon’s tablet. “Hurry up and finish off my sister so you can come help me.”

“I’m on it. I’m on it.”

Deacon instructed his Red Horn to hurry along.

***

The back right leg had taken damage when it landed awkwardly on the Red Horn’s linear cannon at high impact, crushing the weapon. The rest of Lidiya’s Saix was fairing a little better, though it had taken two hits from the surface-to-air cannon that was now wrecked under the cheetah-like Zoid as it rested atop the Red Horn, which lay with its legs splayed flat on the desert floor.

In the cockpit, Lidiya scanned the status panel with her eyes. It showed a couple of red indicators and a lot more yellow warnings than it had a minute ago. One thing was for certain. The Saix wasn’t going to be running fast without repairs, although it might still outrun a Red Horn. However, the ache in Lidiya’s right leg warned her against it. The interface had toned down the pain sensation since a mild discomfort was sufficient for Lidiya to know that her Zoid was wounded.

However, it still had some fight left in it – a lot of fight.

From the back of the fallen Red Horn, Lidiya could see the second Red Horn to the west now running toward her. It’s triple barrel linear cannon sent heavy rounds her way. The first salvo skimmed overhead when she flattened her Saix atop the Red Horn she’d defeated. The second salvo slammed into the Red Horn, rocking the Zoid and throwing the Lightning Saix off its back. Lidiya quickly chose to use the fallen Zoid as cover from where to shoot behind, and thus it became a shooting match at less than four hundred meters between the two competitors.

***

Scott watched the Dark Horn through a gap in the outcropping his Shadow Fox was standing on. It was a mere sliver of an opening in the rock, but enough for the Fox’s optical sensors to peek through as he kept his biomech in a reduced power state to minimize its energy signature. Despite the rock formations around the Fox, its multi-sensor had a stable lock on the approaching Dark Horn and its two Red Horn companions squaring off against Lidiya. That allowed him to send sensor data to Lidiya’s Lightning Saix, even though they were separated by two kilometers of desert and crowded by rock outcroppings rising tall above the ground. However, in spite of the multi-sensor data, it was still nice to be able to see his opponent. That ended when the Dark Horn drew close enough to the rock that it happened to move outside of what could be seen through the narrow gap in the outcropping.

The Shadow Fox was standing on a spur near the peak of a rock formation that resembled a trapezoid. It certainly had a mountain-like silhouette, though it was well shy of what could be called a mountain, though it was much larger than a hill or hillock. What it afforded him was high ground from whence to shoot down at the Dark Horn. Because the Shadow Fox’s AZ 30-mm Laser Vulcan cannon was mounted on a telescoping arm, Scott could shoot from behind cover without the need to expose the Shadow Fox to his opponent.

However, he had to wait for the right moment.

Or maybe I’m being too cautious.

The big, bad Dark Horn was a clean 237-meters away according to the multi-sensor. Well within the range of the Shadow Fox’s laser Vulcan cannon. All Scott had to do was pop out from behind cover and pound the walking fortress with a constant stream of laser blasts. The high-intensity laser bolts were armor-piercing, and he knew from experience they could make short work of a Lightning Saix. He’d even brought a couple of Dibisons down to their knees with the powerful weapon.

So why am I hesitating now?

His first target would be the two Gatlings on the Dark Horn’s back, then the triple-barrel linear cannons. That would leave the enormous Zoid with four beam guns within the frill armor around its neck. They’d be harder to hit since they could reorient and were considerably smaller than the Gatlings and linear cannons. The lesser armament consisted of mini-launchers attached to the shoulders of all four legs, and an acid spray gun under the Zoid’s chin. If he could get the Dark Horn to spend its missiles first, he’d have an easier time of defeating it later. That was the plan and he’d stuck with it for each training run with varying degrees of success. However, this was the first time they’d had rock formations of this size for cover, swinging the odds in his favor.

Scott gave his tactical map a short look. Lidiya had downed one of the Red Horns and was in a shooting match with the other. He needed to hurry. Looking down at the desert floor between the massive rocks – one of which he was standing on – Scott saw that the smoke he’d laid earlier was still in the air, though it could do with another helping to make it thicker. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the chance to spray more of the smoke because right then the Dark Horn made its move. The muti-shot launchers fixed to its legs opened fire, delivering a salvo of eight missiles into the cluster of rock formations ahead of it.

Go time!

The Shadow Fox calculated trajectories in a heartbeat and used the tactical map to display a safe spot on the outcropping. Meanwhile, Scott had the power back up with the press of button on his left control stick. It wasn’t max output, only enough to get the Fox moving briskly to where the tactical AI had determined the missiles wouldn’t hit. The swift biomech arrived with a second to spare as the warheads struck three of the big rock outcroppings, one of which was the trapezoidal mini-mountain that the Shadow Fox was using as a high vantage point.

The missiles were small, but their payload was incredibly destructive. Just one near miss from a dozen meters would send the Shadow Fox tumbling off the outcropping. Scott used the hooks on the back of the Zoid’s heels to secure its footing where the rock was relatively flat compared to the rest of it. Then he and the Fox hunkered low to weather the first round of explosions.

Without a doubt, the Dark Horn was targeting the rocks, and it had the missiles to make life difficult for the Fox with a second salvo that came moments later, hitting the outcroppings at different locations. The third volley of missiles came seconds later. The fourth and final volley close on its heels. The storm of mini-missiles delivered a devastating blow to the landscape, pummeling the rock formations that were millennia old, reshaping them in the process and sending the Shadow Fox scampering for cover when the onboard tactical AI warned Scott that he needed to change locations or get hammered. Detonations around a dozen meters away slammed into the biomech, its feet at times slipping on the rock as they lost purchase despite the hooks on its heels. Finding safety meant clinging to a near vertical rock wall with the desert floor some fifty meters below the Shadow Fox.

When the missile storm was over, Scott checked the tactical plot on his cockpit’s center screen and saw the Dark Horn was well into its second act. Under cover from the missile volleys and the destruction they wrought, the walking fortress had entered a wide pass between two rock formations that dwarfed the Zoid. It was time for the Dark Horn’s twin Gatlings to sing their duet of destruction with backing vocals from the two, triple-barrel linear cannons.

Energy bolts blasted into the slowly, thinning black cloud of camouflage smoke the Shadow Fox had left behind. There was very little wind to clear the smoke away, so it clung to the air up to ten meters above the ground, blanketing the terrain between the cluster of towering, rock formations. That was more than enough smoke to hide a Zoid, no doubt the reason the Dark Horn was blasting laser bolts and railgun slugs into the cloud. Since they hit nothing along the way, the large caliber slugs ended their journey by slamming into the outcroppings. That sent large puffs of shattered, pulverized rock fragments into the air, turning the gradually greying fog into a dirty brown around the fringes.

While clinging to the rock face, the Shadow Fox spied the devastating cannon fire below it. The multi-sensor had a lock on the Dark Horn that had planted itself at the mouth of the pass, yet Scott couldn’t see the Zoid from inside his cockpit despite knowing which direction to look thanks to HUD indicators projected onto the canopy. There was rock between him and the Dark Horn, so he took a chance to relocate while the latter was ripping and scorching the air with laser bolts and hypersonic metal slugs. Scott pushed the control column forward, urging the Fox to climb up the steep rock face while the Dark Horn was busy firing away into the now quickly thinning grey smoke. Before long, the Dark Horn would realize that the Shadow Fox wasn’t hiding in there.

Would the lumbering fortress on legs venture into the space between the rock formations?

The Dark Horn had overwhelming firepower that was compromised by the Gatlings and linear cannons having a limited horizontal field of fire. The Zoid also lacked the agility it needed to turn its body and track a fast-moving Shadow Fox, so would the pilot elect to stay outside the rock structures? The Dark Horn could not wait out the Fox indefinitely since tournament matches were restricted to thirty minutes. Teams that failed to deliver any degree of victory over their opponents would face a points decision to determine who advanced to the next round. With Lidiya having taken down one of the Red Horns, that immediately put her and Scott ahead on points.

The Shadow Fox climbed up the rock face and found a rocky ledge running near the top of the outcropping. Scott followed it, walking the Zoid to a spot where he could spy on the Dark Horn in the pass far below him. Suddenly the lumbering fortress went silent. No more cannon fire. Most likely the Gatlings and linear cannons had overheated and shut down. However, that didn’t mean the Dark Horn was defenseless. It still had four blasters in its neck frill, and other guns facing rearward, so best not to underestimate the biomechanical beast. Yet that didn’t mean Scott had to be overly hesitant. If anything, now was the best time to take a shot at the Dark Horn.

As the saying went…fortuned favored the bold.

Using his right thumb, Scott pressed a button on the right control stick and held it down. Three seconds later, all the Shadow Fox’s weapons went active. As expected, the Dark Horn sixty meters below him began turning in his direction, its sensor having detected an energy spike nearby that the Fox’s stealth system couldn’t hide. As the Dark Horn aimed its Gatling cannons upwards, Scott already had his right index finger on the trigger and the Fox’s Vulcan cannon pointed down at the over gunned behemoth.

The familiar thump-thump-thump from the Vulcan cannon sounded an instant after Scott squeezed the trigger and it fired brilliant, blue-white laser bolts that scorched the air as they streaked into the Dark Horn, burning and penetrating the armor on its back as they wrecked one Gatling cannon, then the other. Scott kept the trigger down, squeezing it hard as the Vulcan cannon racked its laser fire over the Dark Horn. The Gatlings were toast in a few seconds, yet the Vulcan wasn’t quick enough to deal with the triple-barrel linear cannons that pitched upwards to return fire.

The first shots from the linear cannons missed the Shadow Fox by a margin of inches. The vacuum that trailed the hypersonic slugs pulled at the biomech’s composite alloy skin as the slugs shot by, yanking the 65-tonne Zoid a few feet into the air. It was only for a split second, and the Fox moved quickly to keep its balance when it landed. Because the linear cannons were mounted to the outside of the Gatlings, they were somewhat protected from the Vulcan’s laser fire. Scott had to work the control column and foot pedals to make the Fox sidestep for a better angle of fire. However, that put the agile Zoid in a precarious position on the narrow ledge high up the outcropping.

And the Dark Horn wasn’t going down without a fight.

The tremendous recoil from a second, six-shot salvo nearly brought the heavy Zoid to its knees. But it hit paydirt when one or two hypersonic slugs fired by the linear cannons struck the Shadow Fox’s left shoulder, blasting away armor. The impact slammed the biomech into the rock wall to its right, causing the canopy to go black for an instant and Scott feared a system freeze was imminent. Fortunately, the Fox remained on its feet and avoided the dreaded blue screens of death. With some quick input through the control column, Scott backed the Shadow Fox away from the rock face and retreated backwards along the ledge.

It was time to relocate and find somewhere else from where to shoot at the Dark Horn. Perhaps he could make a run for another outcropping. Nonetheless, it proved tricky turning the Shadow Fox around. Surprisingly, there was no third shot from the Dark Horn. Scott steered or guided his Zoid down a steep face, wary of the yellow warning indicators pointing at damage to the Fox’s left shoulder beneath the torn away armor. Fortunately, he made it to the ground without mishap, though the entire time he’d feared getting shot off the outcropping by the Dark Horn.

Where are you?

Scott looked to his right through the artificially transparent canopy. The HUD indicators marked the Dark Horn in that direction, going so far as to generate a wireframe rendering of the trundling fortress because it was hidden behind the rock outcropping the Shadow Fox had been using until now. Turning the Fox toward where he expected the Dark Horn to appear when it exited the pass, Scott then thumbed the Vulcan cannon’s trackball control, centering the gun cues on the wireframe rendition of his opponent. The system then auto locked on the target, ready to fire a long burst at the Zoid, though it was programmed to avoid shooting at the head and cockpit as per Battle Commission rules.

Come on, I’m waiting.

The Shadow Fox spread its legs a little, bracing itself for the recoil it expected when the Vulcan cannon fired.

Not hiding from you now.

As the Dark Horn moved out of the pass, the white wireframe vanished as the large Zoid came into view. As soon as the gun cues turned red, Scott squeezed the trigger and the Vulcan cannon let rip with a hundred laser bolts in less than ten seconds. But that was enough time for one of the linear cannons to return fire with a triple shot that Scott barely avoided when he desperately snapped the directional joystick left and stamped on the left pedal, causing the Shadow Fox to jump sideways. He’d responded purely out of fear – a fear that the linear cannon was about to fire on him. That jump saved him, as did the second jump when the other linear cannon fired at the Fox. But those lucky saves cost him because he’d stopped shooting with the Vulcan cannon.

And yet, fortune had favored the bold.

Smoke was issuing skyward out of the Dark Horn’s back. The damage Scott had caused when he’d strafed the Zoid with hundreds of laser bolts fired from on high was now manifesting as the big Dark Horn began spewing smoke from its wrecked cooling vents. Its thick armor had failed against the near steady stream of deadly laser fire the Shadow Fox had delivered less than a minute ago. But most shocking of all was seeing flames shooting up through the vents as if the Dark Horn had turned into a giant barbeque grill.

What the Hell?

Scott forgot all about shooting and destroying linear cannons as he watched the Dark Horn collapse to the ground when its legs gave out. The surprises didn’t stop there. A heartbeat after the behemoth fell with its legs splayed, red warnings began flashing on the canopy HUD.

ABORT: CONNECTION FAILURE

ABORT: CONNECTION FAILURE

ABORT: CRITICAL TEMPERATURE EXCEEDED

Scott stared at the messages in confusion.

What the Hell is going on? Critical temperature? Where?

A moment later, Aaron broke comm silence in a mild panic. “Ronin, we have to stop. We’ve got a situation out here.”

Now acutely worried, Scott opened his end of the comm channel. “What happened?”

“We’ve got a fire.”

It took him a second to process that, yet he still blurted out, “We’ve got what?”