-The Moon of Xeios, Sea of Souls, Military Research Facility-
Xeios (Moon of Ice) was one of two moons orbiting Visei, the other being named Xeius (Moon of Magma), and was the larger of the two moons. It was inhabited by millions of Vis colonists, who created a lunar colony on the icy moon which thrived due to the presence of sufficient resources and geothermal energy sources. The Vis did not need the colony to have a 'breathable' atmosphere, as they did not 'breath' nor did they consume the animals and plants which grew on Visei and on neighbouring worlds, but the energy requirements were still massive; such that for most of Xeios' colonisation it was unable to provide its own colonists with energy to sate their needs.
Xeius, a volcanic moon, was deemed uninhabitable by Vis long ago due to its extremely dangerous volcanic and geological activity. But provides the Vis of Xeios with geothermal energy from power arrays on the volcanic moon alongside resources from mining it's mineral-rich surface. Xeios and Xeius both formed an essential part of the fledging Vis Dominion, with Xeios serving as a base for the Vis Military used to test new military equipment.
In the Sea of Souls, one of the larger Xeiosian 'seas', one such base existed. It was a large complex, glowing with energy shields that kept it safe from asteroid impacts which were a constant hazard on Xeios. Currently, a new piece of military equipment was being tested inside a hanger bay; a large humanoid (or rather, Visoid) machine that towered over its creators at six meters tall.
"Prototype Mechanized Warrior-010 'Xivilai', ready for deployment." Spoke a female Vis voice from the machine, lines of light running across it as it stood up and detached the thick energy-supplying wires which connected to every part of its frame
Several Vis Savants moved away from the machine, waiting with breathless anticipation as the hanger bay doors slowly opened up to reveal the mock battlefield which had been readied to test it. One of the Savants, the head of the project, smiled as he beheld the sight before him, "Xivilai, a folktale monster which drained the souls of all warriors that stared into its eyes." He thought, shaking his head, "I wish we could've gone with something a little less dramatic..."
The mech pilot moved forward through the doors, observing the urban battlefield before her. The Mechanized Warriors were designed to be used in urban situations, where tanks and armored fighting vehicles were less effective, so the battle was in her favour from the very beginning. Through her experimental mech's sensors, she was able to make out the heat outlines of several such vehicles lying in wait behind buildings; but her frame's heat signature would be even more pronounced than theirs, due to the energy requirements of the Xivilai, so she would probably be just as easily identified.
"It's show time." She thought with a grin, pushing forward on the yokes
-Ten minutes later-The crew of an Ascaion-Class Main Battle Tank waited anxiously as they searched the area for heat signatures, to no avail. It was odd, as the war game had already started; yet there wasn't a single enemy in sight. The Ascaion was a marvel of Vis military engineering, with a mass driver as it's main cannon alongside a particle beam HMG on it's top. The angular tank was designed to not only reflect conventional ballistics, but also to partially refract particle beam weapons so as to minimise their effects on their thick metal-ceramic armor plating.
The Vis tank commander, Vaihlar, looked at his screen from inside the vehicle, monitoring the status of the other vehicles through blips on the screen; all green, with no reports of engagement yet. Sighing, the commander was about to return his attention to the tank's sights; before one of the blips suddenly turned red, not a single word coming over the comms.
His eyes widening, the tank commander ordered his crew to turn towards the direction of the lost AFV. Through their heat sensors, they could make out a high thermal signature which was the shape of a humanoid; it's signature blurring as it dashed through the battlefield faster than their imperfect sensors could track.
-Nearby- A grin came across the Xivilai pilot's face as she landed near the 'destroyed' AFV from above, smashing her stun tonfa against it and 'disabling' the vehicle's electronics as she came down from atop a nearby small building. The other vehicles, surprised by her sudden entrance, opened fire; sending a hail of practice beams and rounds towards her. But the pilot simply sped to the right, using the small wheels on her Mechanized Warrior's feet to speed away as she manoeuvred her frame; twisting and weaving as she got closer and closer to the 'enemy' vehicles.
One of the AFVs, an Xatton-Class Armored Fighting Vehicle, opened fire with it's dorsally mounted particle beam autocannon; sending bolts of practice beams towards the Xivilai which impacted against its shielding, automatically dimming it to a calculated amount. But this was part of the pilot's plan; sacrificing some damage for a close strike on the AFV as she unholstered a rifle-like weapon and attached it to her arm, blasting the AFV in it's side and disabling it immediately as the AFV's computers registered a 'catastrophic kill' from the prototype particle beam cannon (it didn't actually work yet; this was simply a theoretical damage output).
A weak blast from a Veiss-Class Light Tank's smaller particle beam cannon nearly missed the mech, shooting past its head as the practice round embedded itself in the building behind it. One again, the pilot smirked; dashing towards the Veiss in a zig-zag fashion before twirling around to avoid another shot and blasting it once in it's front to disable it's sensory equipment before jumping atop of it and bringing down it's stun tonfa to disable it.
Another Xatton came up from behind a building, but was quickly ambushed by the Xivilai which used its superior manoeuvrability to skirt around it before blasting it in the rear. Unfortunately, this left it open to a blast by a nearby Veiss; which weakened its shielding considerably before the Xivilai scored a firepower kill by taking out its main cannon and achieved a mobility kill through shooting it's anti-gravity mechanism.
Suddenly, a roaring blast impacted against the Xivilai's shielding; taking out its relatively weak shielding instantly by merely skimming across its surface. Turning around, the pilot came face to face with an Ascaion MBT; which was readying it's main cannon for another shot while firing upon the Xivilai with it's HMG.
"excrement, an Ascaion!" The pilot exclaimed, dashing towards the side to avoid the HMG which by itself could damage her mech's relatively thin armor, "No vulnerable anti-grav mechanisms to take out, the tracks are armored, and the particle beam cannon takes a minimum of seven seconds to charge and reload." She spoke, trying to remember the Ascaion's strengths
The tank fired once more, the particle beam barely missing the Xivilai by a few meters thanks to its speed. If this battle was at a longer range, she knew that the Ascaion would've 'destroyed' her mech three times over by now. Slowly closing the distance while sustaining damage to her Mechanized Warrior, the pilot soon came within adequate range; unleashing two blasts from her particle beam cannon which only managed to damage the formidable tank's armor.
"Tch." The pilot uttered, speeding away to avoid a retaliatory blast from the cannon,
"Armor is too thick and angular; I can't kill it with my loadout using normal tactics..." She thought, her mech slowing down, bending down, and planting its arm on the ground; kicking up lunar dust as she used the arm as a pivot to swerve back towards the tank,
"It's not as mobile as me, it's main turret turns too slowly to keep up with me at these ranges, and it can't..."Her thoughts trailed off as an idea came to mind, a wide grin spreading across her face as she sped directly towards the tank; not even attempting to zig zag as she took the brunt of the HMG shots to her frame. Soon, her frame was reporting lost functionality in her left arm; and one of the head sensors took a direct hit. The particle beam cannon was soon brought to bear, it's cannon charging up with energy before a massive thunder-like blast roared out of it; expelling a beam of charged particles at relativistic speeds.
"It can't aim downwards!" The pilot thought, her mind racing as she pulled down on the frame's yokes; hard
Just before the shell fired, the Xivilali turned over and jumped forward; taking massive stress to it's legs which broke down from the strain as it flew through the air from its momentum, the practice shell passing mere meters above the mech and severely shaking it, and smashed into the tank. The tank's operators watched in shock as the Xivilai smashed its HMG apart with it's head (destroying all the sensitive equipment within it) while grabbing hold of the mass driver turret with its right hand.
"I...win." The pilot spoke with a tired smile between breaths, as her mech exerted all of it's arm's hydraulic power (breaking it in the process) and bend the turret upwards; disabling all the tank's weaponry and putting it out of action
Tank commander Vaihlar sighed as heard the pilot through the comms; every aspect of this battle had been in her favour. From the battlefield, to the weapons, to even the inexperienced crews piloting the vehicles. The combat scenario was designed to aid her Mechanized Warrior as much as possible, and even then; his tank was still fully mobile, while her mech was near-completely totaled.
Still, Vaihlar was an honourable warrior; and he definitely wasn't a sore loser.
"Good game, Miss Aeira." Vaihlar spoke through the comms, shutting of his tank's engines, "That was an excellent display of tactical aptitude and combat prowess."
The tank commander waited for a few moments, before a reply finally came.
"Well thank you,
Sir Vaihlar." Came Aeira's reply with a breathless laugh, obviously exhausted from the extreme physical demands of the Xivilai, "I'm glad you enjoyed my performance."