<div class="floatright">(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/jillvader/mw-nmfkmpkarimonero_zps55a1bf27.jpg)</div>The cockpit of the<em>Black Knight</em>was always hot. Not just the usual heat that came from a BattleMech, but because the<em>Knight</em>tended to run hot, a side-effect of its all-energy armament. However, now it was beyond that; it was an oven, a baking, oppressive heat that smothered the lone occupant.<br/><br/>Inside the ‘Mech, Kari Moreno was sweating, her brightly-decorated skin glistening as she frantically fought the sluggish controls of the overheating machine. It wasn’t the heat itself that had her sweating so profusely, however. Rather, it was the situation she and the rest of the unit faced, one that had bought them to the very edge of death already, and yet showed no signs of letting up. The pressure of the situation manifested itself in many ways, not the least of which was the numerous warnings coming from her ‘Mech. Battered already, the war machine was running perilously close to collapse.<em>Much like we are,</em>she grimly realized.<br/><br/>Carlos Moreno, the unit’s commander – and their father – had tried to salvage what was an obviously untenable situation, pulling the unit back through dense woodlands to cover their retreat. On paper it made sense, allowing them to break contact and seek shelter while reducing the advantage of the longer-ranged Clan weapons. Of course, that presumed that the Falcons didn’t simply decide to blast the forests apart from orbit in the same manner they had opened the planetary campaign.<br/><br/>“Bravo Lance, form up on me,” she called out over the command channel, trying to bring together the battered remains of her force. “Keep it tight and don’t wander off! Report anything at all that you see” They’d only just managed to break contact with the Falcons, and she knew that the Clanners would be hot in pursuit. Her tac display gave the positions of her lance and the other Black Suns, but there was also a worrying lack of information on their enemies.<br/><br/>And then it all went straight back to hell. One moment, Muriel Berk’s<em>Hercules</em>had been backing up along with her, a hundred meters from her own ‘Mech. The next both it and its MechWarrior were simply gone, torn apart from within by the fireball of a raging ammunition explosion.  “Bravo Three is down!” She called out, quickly snapping back into focus. “Look out for-“<br/><br/>A warning cut her off, but told her all she needed to know as a new player entered the fray. A<em>Shadow Cat II</em>, painted bright green and with an obvious bird of prey crest splashed on its torso stepped forwards, its weapons eager for further prey. “They’re on us!”<br/>