Fastest time ever witnessed of 'mech startup to wreck/eject?
I remember a Blackjack which, spontaneously- no reason ever identified -came online, started to march and then detonated its ammo bins. Wasn't a scratch on them. It just happened.
Well, there was the time that I saw a Fire Moth spontaneously disassemble before the start up sequence was even finished...
The MechWarrior in question was a former Ice Hellion, who had then been taken as isorla by the Hell's Horses before being taken again by the Falcons.
If you know anything about the Ice Hellions, the Horses, and/or Fire Moth pilots, you likely can guess where this is going already.
But this warrior, having been a Hellion AND a Horse, was... very fond of speed. Extremely so.
To the point of modifying his Fire Moth P; it was so over-modified that he had managed to increase the weight of the thing by 5 whole tons - without any consideration for properly balancing things.
He accomplished this idiotic task in three ways:
He swapped the 200 XL engine for a 320 XXL engine - the engine poked out of the torso in places, which wreaked havoc with the coolant system - it had to be rerouted significantly. This will be relevant later.
He doubled the weight of armor - maxing it out. Under normal circumstances, I would applaud this. But, combined with the increased weight and altered center of gravity from the new engine, this overstressed the chassis, such that he could not immediately accelerate to maximum speed.
He retained the supercharger system of the P variant and the MASC the Fire Moth is known for. I am told he once clocked a maximum speed of 432 kilometers per hour. At that point, he ought to have just tested down into an ASF pilot, it should have been clear the addiction was already terminal...
The "price" was the removal of four of the micro pulse lasers the 'Mech mounted. I am sure he did not care, though I suspect the light active probe was placed onboard under the warrior's protest, and probably represented a Star Commander or someone trying to get SOME use out of this machine.
In any case, the coolant system rerouting I mentioned earlier placed a number of the coolant lines close to the supercharger and MASC system, which the warrior had moved to the center torso to sit as close to the main core of the fusion engine as possible. He did this in the name of "efficiency" and a considerable amount of some manner of imagined technobabble about making the thing even faster.
The strain of the extra weight meant the chassis flexed internally under load. It seemed to work out fine for several years, but the post-accident investigation showed it was utterly riddled with stress fractures. The repeated stress from the overuse of the MASC system and supercharger had also worn out the myomer's electrical elements and the fusion engine itself. Why the techs did not spot it, I do not know. Perhaps they were fed up doing all the extra maintenance.
Anyway, one day, this warrior was preparing for a patrol. He activated the fusion reactor. Readings were fluctuating, which on this claptrap of a 'Mech was "normal", as were the readings from the supercharger and the MASC. But when the cradle holding the 'Mech's weight was released, the chassis finally gave way. One of the endo-steel bones snapped, and accidentally completed a circuit in the already damaged myomer. This created a full-body spasm in the entire 'Mech, and the errant electrical current found the MASC system, accidentally fooling the control panel into thinking it was already on. In his attempt to power the 'Mech off, the warrior saw the MASC light was active. Likely thinking this was the culprit, he pressed the lot button. This instead turned the MASC on by accident, which only made the convulsions worse. The MASC-enhanced myomer began to rip apart, whipping about inside, snapping and shattering more of the skeletal bones, a fragment of which pierced one of the center torso coolant lines. The coolant sprayed all over the inside of the 'Mech, and some of it hit and ate through the casing of the supercharger which was, I remind you, already active. That caused electrical shorts, which caused the supercharger to overload. Which then caused the fusion reactor to overcharge and blow half of itself out of the side of the 'Mech.
All of this took only a few seconds.
As for the warrior, well, one of the electric shorts also activated the ejection system - and he had not put on his neurohelmet.
I am told there the stain and burns on the ceiling took a good while to clean up.
