Forging Freyja - Chapter 10.4

Lummatii
Lothian League
Marian Hegemony
The Periphery
4 January, 3150




     "She never  told me about this fight," Freyja said as her eyes remained glued to the holoimage. The two combatants marched into the arena on opposite sides. Faith piloted a heavily modified Catapult K2, while Catherine piloted a 5SS Thunderbolt. The announcer was trying to play up the drama, but Freyja barely heard him as she processed the reality of what she was watching. This was a fight, almost a hundred years previous between the woman that had trained her in mech combat, and the woman who had started the very line of warriors from which Freyja descended.

     It didn't take long for the two combatants to come into medium range for combat. The fight was in one of Solaris' smaller arenas, adjunct to the main circuit, and offered a terrain of rolling hills and some scattered trees, but no real hard impediments or barriers. They traded full alpha strikes at first, Faith's medium lasers carving gorges in the Thunderbolt's armor, and one ultra autocannon sending a stream of shells tearing into the freshly heated plate. Cat's response struck Faith's Catapult square in the center torso, while rapid twisting helped spread the damage from the medium lasers and short range missiles across the mechs broad armor.

     Uh oh, something is wrong, mech fans, it appears that one of McCarron's Ultra ACs jammed on it's first firing. That will put her down a great deal in firepower, and she will have to be extra cautious with her remaining gun.

     The two mechs circled each other in a deadly dance, trading lances of energy, PPC bolts, and cannon rounds, all the while dodging expertly to keep incoming fire aimed at the freshest armor available. It was a toe to toe slugging match, and the fans were loving it. Freyja's pulse quickened as she forgot her knowledge that both combatants would survive the fight.

     This is an unusual fight, mech fans. Cat Black is fighting with her usual combination of patience and a deadly precise shot. But Faith is usually more of an aggressor, charging into the thick of the fight. But we don't see that here. She's playing a trading game, and she's trading with one autocannon behind her back. I don't see this going well for the blonde bombshell.

     The fight was going just as the announcer had described. The two were trading almost evenly. She recognized Catherine's fighting style as that of her mentor, fighting like a cat, standing off delivering blows judiciously, waiting for the right time before pouncing in for the kill. But that moment never came. They traded back and forth, but Faith's mech accepted the punishment far longer than it seemingly should have. All the while, she kept striking back evenly. They each waited for the other to falter, and after what seemed like ages, Cat faltered first.

     A long string of shells pounded into her mech's torso and into the shoulder, gobbling up the myomer and structural links that braced the arm containing her PPC. The Thunderbolt's arm hung limp. Tasting blood, Faith took that moment to double pull on her remaining Ultra Autocannon, sending twice the normal load of destruction pouring into her opponent's torso assembly. The mech's gyro spun apart in a dance of metal death and the mech collapsed to the ground, bracing it's fall with the now useless PPC carrying arm.

     And that would seem to be it folks, a gyro hit has Cat Black down for the count. But wait, what's this? It seems that she's trying to defy the odds and prop her mech up into a firing position. The stable techs and the people with the purses might not be too happy about this decision to fight on seemingly in vain, but the crowd loves it!

     Tap out, Cat, this one is over. Freyja heard Faith's voice strained and with the grainy quality of combat transmission. Against all odds, Catherine managed to prop her mech upright, and fired off her torso mounted lasers. Two missed wildly, and the third did little more than carve a scar in the foot of her mech. Faith's response was swift, sending four green lances of energy charging into the bracing arm, severing the limb and sending the T-bolt onto it's face. With that, the fight was over, and Freyja tuned out the postgame analysis as she turned to face Gunnar.

     "That was amazing. Thank you. But you didn't have to go to all this trouble."

     He pulled her closer. "Yes, I did. We're going to get one shot fighting that pirate when he comes for our goods. We'll be fighting side by side, and you've had a rough time of things this last year from the sound of it. You needed reminding of where you come from, and who you are. I'm not going into battle with a slave at my side, I'm going in with a Valkyrie, from a long line of Valkyries."

     She took his face in her hands and kissed him. "Thank you." Those were the last two words they spoke aloud for the rest of the night as they let their fears wash away in passion.