Beth’s first preliminary match-up was a sniper’s duel against Sardar Sangma, a very wealthy mech pilot from India. Like Beth, he was a veteran known for making impressive kills from long range. He was cocky but charismatic, and had been romantically linked with four different actresses in as many years. His mech was among the most expensive in the world, having cost twice as much to build as the<em>Lissa</em>—and Beth’s mech had not been cheap. Her mech was slightly faster, but inferior in size, armor, and the volume of firepower it could sustain.<br/><br/>Watching sports news the day before the match on her computer, Beth had heard the following comment from Sardar. “We’re all very pleased to have the lovely and talented Beth Raines return to the professional league. It’s just a shame she’s going to take such a sound drubbing her first time out.” For her part Beth did not dislike the man, but she would be more than happy to make him eat those words.<br/><br/>The match took place in an urban ruin covering nine square kilometers. The fortified buildings inside were all in various states, some looking new and others nearly falling apart. Basically what happened with this place was that the buildings were damaged in match after match, and when they finally collapsed they were rebuilt.<br/><br/>At the match start the<em>Lissa,</em>painted up in gray camo, emerged into the urban jungle. Beth moved with ease through the silent ruins, focused on nothing but her search-and-destroy mission. Despite having been away, she found everything perfectly natural, and as usual she hardly though of the mech as being separate from her own body.<br/><br/>“Good luck,” Beth’s crew chief said over her comm.<br/><br/>“Thanks.”<br/><br/>(OOC: To make this easier to write and because she is so focused, I’m just going to describe the action as if the mech is Beth’s body.)<br/><br/>The first exchange came when Beth detected a brief blip on her heat sensors. She stood up against the building and used a special tool—a small mirror that emerged from her left arm and allowed her to peer around corners. She got the briefest glimpse of Sardar before a plasma beam disintegrated the mirror.<em>Show off.</em>She reacted instantly, stepping away from the building and firing an artillery round at another structure that was within her sight and relatively close to her enemy. The explosion sent shards of glass and concrete at Sardar’s position—nothing that would do real damage, but enough to blind him temporarily. Beth then got down and rolled past the corner, firing her railgun repeatedly at his last position. She thought she heard something that sounded like a hit, but by the time the debris cleared her enemy had vanished.<br/><br/>Beth was already back on her feet, but instead of chasing after him directly she turned back into the confusing sprawl of buildings and streets, trying to anticipate which direction he might retreat in so that she could flank him. Whether he was smarter or just luckier, it was Sardar who nearly got the drop on Beth—she saw him at the last moment, diving for cover behind another building as he fired his plasma autocannon. Her status board lit up—Beth had taken a hit in the leg, and her mobility was now severely limited.<br/><br/>“Don’t run on that leg,” her crew chief advised her. “It’ll give out for sure.”<br/><br/>“I know, I know!” she said, frustrated.<br/><br/>Her brief glimpse of the enemy did at least give her crucial information—her earlier shot had hit the vulnerable joint of his left elbow, making it impossible for him to effectively fire his long range weapon, the plasma rifle. If she could just get some distance on him, she would have a good chance of finishing this. Once again she fired her artillery in Sardar’s general direction to discourage pursuit, and then limped away into an alleyway to lose him once more.<br/><br/>After a couple tense minutes, Beth used her jumpjets to fly atop a four story structure and then lowered her power levels, to make herself even more difficult to detect. She then waited for another sensor blip or sighting. When she made her enemy sneaking along a street in the distance, she carefully lined up a shot.<br/><br/>Her first hit struck his leg, knocking his return fire off as she continued to attack. She now stood and brought her plasma cannons into mix, looking to wear down his armor in preparation for the kill.<br/><br/>Sardar’s fire was inaccurate, but still powerful, and Beth realized in alarm that he had struck the building beneath her so hard it was beginning to collapse. She jumped forward off the roof, using her jumpjets at a one fourth power burst to slow her descent slightly, and then fell into a roll. She was careful not to land on the damaged leg. She came up firing, scoring a hit directly on a part of Sardar’s armor still weakened and almost molten from plasma burns.<br/><br/>The enemy mech tried to move and return fire, but fell over and began floundering. Finally it stopped moving. The computer signaled that her opponent had surrendered. “Beth, you got him right in gyroscope! Congrats!”<br/><br/>“Thanks, Mike,” she told her crew chief. “Let’s analyze the match as soon as possible—I was feeling sluggish in places, and I let Sardar get the drop on me. I need to know if I was off my game.”<br/><br/>“Understood—but it’s a feather in your cap all the same. I expect a two-day turn around on fixing that leg and running standard diagnostics and repairs. Then you can get back to practice.”<br/><br/>“Great. I don’t want to mess up this leg further, or so I’m going sit here and wait for the flatbed.”<br/><br/>“We’ll have you back in the hangar in no time.” He paused. “It’s good to have you back, Beth.”<br/><br/>She smiled. “Thanks. It’s good to be back.”