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Post by Koalabear on Feb 8, 2019 12:27:11 GMT -5
When Worlds Collide
Chapter 1 Lost Brother
L'Cor stumbled briefly as he walked down the unsteady ramp. At first he thought that the ramp was feeble and bouncing more than was safe, but a moment later, he realized that the bouncing and unsteadiness had more to do with his current inebriated state than the questionable safety of the shuttle ramp. He swore under his breath as the white hot sun stabbed through his eyes and seared a raging path deep into his alcohol soaked brain. He patted his pockets desperately; where the hell were his shades? His clumsy fingers probed his face and he found his the frames of his shades resting over his nose. If he were wearing his shades, why in Hadis' stinking armpit was it so bright? His fingers probed some more until his drunken mind managed to absorb the fact that his fancy expensive aviator style shades were missing the lens. Somehow, as he tossed, turned and otherwise decorated the first class section of the transcontinental shuttle with the previous night's overindulgence, both lenses had popped out of his shades. He cursed again and in a moment of impetuous rage, ripped them off his face and threw them away. He had worked a 「dookie」ty job all summer before his last year of high school to buy those shades, but right now, he didn't care. It had been a long time ago.
He squinted his eyes and wobbled his way into the spaceport terminal. Where the outside temperature had soaked his clothes with his own sweat and stink, the temperature inside the spaceport felt like the inside of the meat freezer where he had spent the last summer before his last year of high school. The cold air hit his already dizzy brain and he squeezed his eyes shut, wishing that the world would stop spinning. He needed to get his bearing so he forced his eyes open and looked around. He instantly regretted this action as the hurricane inside his stomach turned into a blazing volcano. He dropped to his knees as he expelled sour vile liquid onto the pristine spaceport floor.
Before he even had time to feel disgusted, a maintenance robot zipped up from out of nowhere and with an almost happy hum, vacuumed and mopped L'Cor's vomit away. L'Cor felt that that was almost like a metaphor of his life - one big huge mess that was quickly cleaned up, leaving behind nothing but an empty shell of a man.
Surprisingly, he actually felt almost human again and was finally able to drag himself to the baggage reclamation area. Once there, he spotted his mottled black and green duffle bag. He grabbed the floating bag out of the levitation tube and slung it over his shoulder. With his meagre worldly possessions close to him once more, he felt a little bit more like his usual self.
On his way out of the spaceport, he stopped off to buy another pair of shades. Unfortunately, the only styles that the little shop had were the new wrap-around visors that were so popular with the younger generation. He felt a moment of remorse at throwing away his aviator shades but quickly quelled it. Without lenses, they were nothing but empty frames. Just another reminder of what he was today.
He paid for the visor shades and checked himself out in the holo-mirror. He looked like an idiot. He took off the shades was about to throw them away when a flash of blue caught his attention. His dark blue eyes, reflected back from the holo-mirror had not lost any of their sharpness - eyes that were one of the many features that he had shared with his brother. He slammed the visor back over his eyes before his thoughts could stray into dangerous territory.
He stalked out of the spaceport and hailed a taxi cab. As the hover vehicle pulled up, its door slid open. He tossed his duffle bag inside and got in.
"What is your destination please?" The robot driver's voice was pleasantly neutral. It sounded neither male nor female.
"Hinton Embassy Hotel," snarled L'Cor. "And turn down the lights will ya?"
"As you wish sir." The windows in the cab dimmed to an almost night-time level.
L'Cor muttered to himself. He hadn't intended on snapping at the driver. It was just doing its job. His headache was starting to wear off he was feeling a little sheepish about his grumpy mood. "Look, I'm sorry I snapped at you. I just have the mother of all hangovers, you know?"
"No need to apologize," said the driver. "May I suggest a Fizzy-pop? It is said to cure hangovers."
"What the frak is a Fizzy-pop?"
In response, a bottle filled with clear green liquid popped out of the dispenser in front of him. Curious, he picked up the bottle and twisted off the cap. The bottle fizzed as it opened: he sniffed hesitantly before taking a long gulp. The liquid was cold, sweet and heavily carbonated. The drink burned a path down his throat and only his orbits of heavy beer drinking prevented him from gasping from the pain. The flavour was not unpleasant and after an embarrassingly loud belch, his headache actually faded slightly.
"Thank you," said L'Cor with feeling.
"You are very welcome sir. The Fizzy-pop is the current fad among the young people here these days. If you ask me, I would say that they finally got something right." The robot driver's voice was melodious and humorous at the same time.
L'Cor didn't respond right away and as if sensing his need for silence, the robot driver did not say anything else. L'Cor stared out the window at the unfamiliar city. Here...It was funny how his perspectives changed with time. When he was younger, âhere' was simply his hometown of Avon Mist. When he joined the military, âhere' was first his boot camp and then it was wherever he was stationed. Now âhere' was New Neomar, the reborn city. "I can't believe how clean everything looks. I can't see any signs of battle here."
"That is because there was no battle here sir."
L'Cor looked to the front of the cab where the robot driver's head had turned around 180 degrees. The driver's vaguely human shaped head with its large eyes regarded him expectantly. "What're you talking about?" demanded L'Cor. "This is Neomar, where they blew up that frakkin' hive right?"
The robot ignored L'Cor's profanity and launched into a lecture. "This is actually New Neomar. The old Neomar is nothing but radioactive ruins. The Royal Gayan Armed Forces could not oust the Saxx from their hive and after several attempts, which saw the end of many young lives, decided to use atomic weapons. Old Neomar is over 500 miles south of where we are now. The name New Neomar was later given to this city to celebrate the destruction of the first Saxx hive on Gaya.
L'Cor glanced in the direction that the robot driver indicated. His mind was suddenly thrown back almost six orbits ago, on another continent of Gaya, where atomic weapons had also been used.
*
"Pull back! Pull back!" The voice coming through his helmet speakers was thin and grainy. The S-Wave communicator was supposed to provide crystal clear communications in the heat of battle. However, L'Cor was sure that the engineers who designed the frakkin thing had never been in a battle. The rumble of gunfire and explosions could be felt and heard even while nestled in the combat harness in the cockpit of his MAAC.
L'Cor's transmitter was built into his helmet's chin guard and he used his chin to key it before barking, "This is Captain Penrag'n. All tri-quad elements pull back. I repeat, all tri-quad elements pull back now! Thernuke incoming! I repeat, thernuke incoming! ETA eight minutes!"
L'Cor stared at his scanner screen while putting his MAAC into a long loping run. He counted twelve steady green lights that represented the twelve MAACs in his tri-quad. The battle had been going relatively well and he had not lost anyone yet. The mission brief had seemed simple at first. The Saxx were suspected of building another hive in the Badlands and his tri-quad was sent to investigate. L'Cor's tri-quad was a mixed bag. He had one quad of heavy MAACs, one quad of medium class MAACs and his younger brother commanded the recon quad of MAACs. As per standard operating procedure, R'Tus's quad had dropped first and was promptly ambushed when they were about ten miles from the suspected zone â a mountain range in the Badlands. Upon hearing R'Tus's initial reports, L'Cor had cancelled the regular drop order and immediately dropped both medium and heavy quads at the same time. L'Cor had dropped last from the air-carrier. Moments after he had slid down the ramp, the air-carrier was hit and blown out of the sky. That was when L'Cor knew for sure that someone in Intelligence had seriously frakked up.
On the way down, L'Cor had juked his jump jets in random patterns but couldn't prevent his heavy Drac'en MAAC from being hit several times. Fortunately, none of the hits were crippling and he had been able to fight his way out of his LZ.
An alarm suddenly chimed and L'Cor twisted his waist instinctively. His human shaped Drac'en MAAC copied his muscle movement â thanks to his skin-tight neural suit â and dodged the plethora of red bolts that screamed past. L'Cor followed his twisting motion through by pulling up his right arm and cutting loose with his MBC. The gigantic multi-barrel cannon mounted on the forearm of his Drac'en spat hundreds of rounds of armour piercing and high explosive bullets. L'Cor's ammunition load alternated armour piercing and high explosives. The theory was that if the first round failed to kill a Saxx, then the second round would at least slow it down.
Either the theory was right or it was the sheer volume of fire that worked, L'Cor's target â a Saxx in powered armour â collapsed and didn't move again. L'Cor quickly scanned the Saxx for vital signs and when he didn't see any, grimly said to himself, "If the first round doesn't kill it, then the next hundred and ninety nine will." That was where his and R'Tus's fighting styles were different. R'Tus preferred finesse with the one shot kills while L'Cor liked to bull his way through any opposition. Thinking of his brother made him check his scanner screen again. "R'Tus! Pick it up little bro! You're gonna be the main course at the BBQ in a few minutes!"
"I'm trying bro!" R'Tus's voice sounded like it was a hundred miles away. "...am...swarmed...Lis is down...I've...some damage...jets...fire support..."
L'Cor enhanced his scanner screen. Sure enough, 2nd Lieutenant Liselle Teshen's MAAC was showing damage to its legs. "Lieutenant Teshen! Get ready to bail out!" ordered L'Cor.
"Ack...ged...sir!" Lieutenant Teshen's voice was tinny, but her tone was steady. L'Cor grinned tightly. Teshen was a good pilot with tremendous potential. L'Cor was going to enjoy teasing her about getting her MAAC damaged so early in the fight when they all returned to HQ later. Who knows? Maybe the teasing would lead into some private tutoring with the feisty redhead!
"R'Tus! Heads up little bro! I'm sending a flight of AROWs your way!" L'Cor hit a button on his left handed control and a large cylindrical missile flew out the blocky launcher mounted on his Drac'en's left shoulder. The missile arched high up into the air and then broke apart into ten smaller missiles. Each of the sub-munitions seemed to hover for a second before suddenly accelerating downwards. The L-Wave engines in each missile kicked in as their optical sensors picked out individual targets. The warheads were almost invisible as they streaked down on beams of incandescent light.
"Nice...s...L'Cor! Chalk up...ten for the...killing machine!"
"No time to chit chat little bro! Get Lis out of her MAAC and get her out of there!"
"Already done...her to Rosba...holding rearguard..."
"What're you talking about?" L'Cor felt a hand clutch his chest as he watched two green lights from R'Tus's quad break away. That still left two MAACs left behind. One was obviously Teshen's abandoned MAAC. That meant that the other one was R'Tus. "R'Tus! Retreat dagnag-it! There's a thernuke on the way right now!"
"Can't...free...bro...boiling...of the ground." Frequent gunfire could be heard as R'Tus spoke. "Jensen, Rosba! Get Lis...of here! Get home safe!"
L'Cor's AROW round had left a camera hovering up in the air. He linked into the video feed and watched in growing horror as hundreds of Saxx seemed to magically emerge from the mountain range. Under the telescopic view of the camera, L'Cor could see that the Saxx had literally carved a chunk out of the mountain. From satellite, it would appear like a normal mountain, however down near the ground, the oval shape of a fully functional hive was unmistakeable.
L'Cor zoomed in on R'Tus's Wyv'en MAAC. R'Tus had lost the heavy shield from his left arm early on in the ambush. L'Cor watched as the Wyv'en's left arm reached back and pulled out an extra long monofilament cutter while the Wyv'en's right hand weapon, a medium sized auto-cannon, fired short controlled bursts into the tide of Saxx. L'Cor zoomed out to see the bigger picture. R'Tus's MAAC looked like a tiny human wielding a sword and a gun against a horde of giant three-legged alien bugs.
2nd Lieutenants Jensen and Rosba suddenly boosted past L'Cor, their jump jets were glowing red from over usage. Their Wyv'en MAACs were heavily scarred and Rosba's Wyv'en had its hands cupped in front of her as if holding something precious. L'Cor wanted nothing more than to run to his brother's aid, but he had other people who needed him now. "Rosba! I'll take Lis into my Drac'en. She won't survive if you keep bouncing her around like that!" L'Cor's Drac'en was a modified command MAAC. His cockpit was enlarged to hold an optional person for monitoring communications. Due to personnel shortages, L'Cor didn't currently have a communications officer so the seat above him was empty.
The transfer took a few precious minutes but soon Liselle Tenshen was safely inside. L'Cor glanced up and saw her shapely legs. "You alright Lis?"
"I'm fine sir," said Lis in a clipped tone. "I think I have some broken ribs but that's all. Thanks for the pick up."
"Ready for another go at the Saxx? I need to bail out my little brother."
"With all due respect sir, that won't be possible. Look!"
L'Cor looked to the left and saw a blazing line of fire. "Oh frak it!" Indecision gripped him at that moment. His brother was still in the midst of hundreds of Saxx. Brotherly bonds demanded that he go save his brother. However, duty to his people meant that he had to get the rest of his team to the minimum safe distance. It wasn't just his hide or even Liselle's. Both Rosba and Jensen's Wyv'ens had shown obvious wear and tear to their jump jets.
L'Cor was just about to key his S-Wave to tell his brother that he was coming when R'Tus beat him to the punch. "I see it big bro!" Ironically, R'Tus's voice was coming through crystal clear this time. "Get going! Get my quad out safe and get them home!"
L'Cor launched his last AROW missile and then pushed his Drac'en to maximum speed. He jettisoned all of his weapons and quickly caught up to Jensen and Rosba. He put a titanic hand on each of their backs and timed his next jump with theirs. "Jensen, Rosba! By the numbers....boost!"
L'Cor kept looking at the ETA of the thermo-nuclear missile. There was about thirty seconds left. Thirty seconds to say a lifetime of things to his little brother. Thirty seconds to tell his brother that their parents â if they were alive today â would be proud of him. Thirty seconds to tell his brother that he loved him. He opened his mouth but no sounds came out.
"Tell him!" hissed Liselle. "Tell him that you love him!"
"I..."
"Hey bro! Don't get mushy on me now!" R'Tus's voice was coming through a bit strained. He was obviously pushing himself and his MAAC to both to their physical limits. "Hey Lis? You're a great pilot! And because I know he'd never say anything, L'Cor thinks that you have great legs! Take care of the big lug for me ok?"
There was a pause of a few seconds. The timer on L'Cor's screen read five seconds. When next R'Tus spoke, it was with great exertion. "I...good-bye L'Cor."
There was a brief flash of light before the Drac'en's sensors automatically blanked out. Tears were streaming down L'Cor's face. The shockwave hit him in mid-air but he struggled with the controls to keep himself, Jensen and Rosba righted. As the trio of MAACs touched down again, L'Cor whispered to no one in particular, "Good-bye."
*
L'Cor woke up with a start and realized that the taxicab had stopped moving. He glanced out the window and saw a huge pristine building with the words Hinton Embassy Hotel. He was here.
"Will you be participating in the games sir?" asked the robot driver in a metallically respectful tone.
L'Cor shook his head sharply like a wet daggit shaking water out of its pelt. All traces of his hangover were gone. What was in that drink? He would have to stock up on the Fizzy-pops! "Yeah, I came here to enter the Tournament."
"Have you purchased a Mick? Ownership of a Mick is mandatory to enter the tournament."
L'Cor frowned. What was with the twenty questions? "No I haven't got a Mick yet. I have read the rules you know."
"I apologize sir. I merely wanted to point out that if you do not currently own a Mick, you have two options. You may purchase a new model directly from the factory of any one of the manufacturers. I have loaded their locations on this map card." The robot driver extended a mechanical appendage and passed a small flat box to L'Cor.
L'Cor took the box and a three dimensional hologram sprang up from it. The hologram showed a 3D map of the city of New Neomar. There were several blinking red dots clustered in one part of the city. L'Cor assumed that these were the factories currently producing Micks. He noticed a blinking blue dot and pointed it out to the driver. "What's this blue dot?"
"That," said the robot patiently, "is Ivan McMac's Shop. He sells used Micks, spare parts and other useful modules. You would be wise to pay him a visit. Very few new contestants in the game can afford a new Mick."
"Don't bet on that," said L'Cor under his breath. He knew from his research that his veteran's pay out was just enough to buy a basically configured new Mick. It would be enough to get him into the game. He figured that after facing hordes of giant three-legged aliens, these pansies who thought they were warriors should be pushovers.
"In the lobby of the hotel, you will find many possible sponsors. With a sponsor supporting you, you will not have to worry about living and maintenance expenses."
L'Cor nodded to the robot. He had thought about that too. A sponsor was basically a large corporation or a group of smaller companies who paid for a contestant's living and maintenance expenses. In return though, you have to fight when they told you to fight and you also had to promote whatever product or agenda they were trying to sell to the general public. After fifteen orbits of military service in the war, L'Cor was fairly certain that he would rather starve than march to someone else's tune. He stared wistfully at the hotel and sighed. A sponsor could easily afford to put him up in a fancy hotel for a few nights but his veteran's pay out could not without digging into his budget for a Mick. "Keep the meter running. I'm just going in to register as a contestant."
"Actually sir, with all due respect, you do not have to register here," said the robot driver.
L'Cor raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really? I thought all new contestants had to register at the Hinton to get into the game."
The robot driver shook its head. "Actually sir, that is just a trap to get new contestants to sign up with a sponsor and to buy a new Mick."
A bulb of light flicked on in L'Cor's head. "Of course! If I go in there, the sponsors would be circling around me like vul'pits over dead meat. They'll get me to sign up and mortgage my soul with promises of fancy living and new equipment."
"Exactly sir."
"Well, where else can I register?"
"Anywhere that you can find a Tournament Kiosk, sir. There is one at Ivan McMac's Shop."
L'Cor slapped his thigh and came to a decision. "Ok, take me there."
As the driver silently drove, L'Cor reflected on how close he had come to making a big mistake. Almost half of his life had been spent in the service of his planet. Almost fifteen orbits of taking orders and killing alien invaders and when the war was finally done, all he got was a lousy pat on the back and a cheque for two hundred thousand credits. At least his brother got a state funeral and a death bonus cheque of three hundred thousand credits that went to their last living relative - their sister Q'Wen.
Two hundred thousand credits was more than enough to start a new life, but L'Cor's brief stint as a regular civilian ended when he almost threw his idiotic boss out the window of the fast food restaurant.
The taxicab came to a stop outside of a large warehouse that had a small storefront. "What's the damage?" asked L'Cor.
The driver gave him a robotic shrug and said, "The fare has been paid for by Ivan McMac sir."
L'Cor laughed. So that was how that worked! Well at least a cab ride was easier to swallow than a life contract to a bunch of corporate hacks! "Thanks," he said as he grabbed duffle bag and exited the taxicab.
The storefront had a used but well maintained look. Beside the door was a mechanical humanoid figure that stood at least twenty feet. To L'Cor, it looked like a miniature MAAC. Of course, the Mobile Armoured Assault Craft was regulated for only military use and even a light MAAC like a Wyv'en stood taller than the figure in front of him. During the war, as the need for MAACs grew, many factories employed the use of Mobile Civilian Construction Vehicles to aid in building, rebuilding and even urban defence. Some militias even adapted the MCCVs for police and peacekeeping uses. This of course, eventually gave rise to the concept of the Tournament.
The new sport of the new age was for aspiring contestants to pilot the Micks (as they came to be known) through the ruins of destroyed cities for the sole purpose of hunting each other down. Live small calibre ammunition was used so while injuries were quite common, actual fatalities were not the norm. Still, the average life span of a successful contestant was measured in the months. Most of the contestants were young, barely out of their teens. Some were street waifs that had a knack for piloting the Micks and were picked up by a corporate sponsor. Others were spoiled rich kids looking for just another thrill. Still others were like L'Cor, veterans of the war, looking for a way to survive in society.
L'Cor thrust his hands into the pockets of his faded jeans. Inside of his right pocket, he found the map card that the taxicab driver had given him. Inside his left pocket was his brother's AV journal. It was small, about the size of a pocket computer, and it was one of few possessions of this brother that L'Cor had kept.
Not feeling quite ready to enter the shop, L'Cor walked down the street a bit until he found a bench. He sat down, turned on the AV journal and browsed to the first entry. Even though he had watched the entry many times â enough to have almost memorized it â L'Cor still found comfort in seeing his younger brother's face and hearing his younger brother's voice. Tears streamed down L'Cor's face as he watched R'Tus's young face beaming with youthful enthusiasm. L'Cor had protected R'Tus for as long as he could - from simple street smarts to beating off the occasional bully. Still, the one time that it truly mattered, L'Cor had failed his brother. "I'm sorry R'Tus. It should've been me. It should've been me." L'Cor closed his eyes to the storm of tears and touched the Play button.
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Post by Bladeacer on Feb 9, 2019 3:53:17 GMT -5
Nice one. But a little long.
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Post by iFail on Feb 10, 2019 10:55:04 GMT -5
Absolutely awesome.
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Post by Koalabear on Feb 10, 2019 11:16:11 GMT -5
Thanks guys. Posting here is a pain on account of the formatting...ugh... I'll try another chapter... There are 20 in total.
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Post by Koalabear on Feb 11, 2019 8:42:45 GMT -5
Chapter 2 Winning and Losing
White light emanated from the small screen and projected a 3D hologram that hovered above the small AV journal. A holographic representation of R'Tus's head from the time he made the entry appeared and began to speak. L'Cor knew without looking at the date of the entry that this recording was made shortly after R'Tus's eighteenth birthday.
Start of Entry - Orbit 3011, 6th Moon, 5th Solar Cycle
Hello? Is this thing on? Oh...yeah...I'm an idiot. This is recording, right? Oh well, I'll check it later...
Anyway, our instructors here at MAAC Basic advised us to keep this AV journal of our trials and tribulations. Specifically, we're to talk about our experiences with the MAAC trainers so that we can revisit our mistakes and learn from them. But what if we didn't make any mistakes?
I sound cocky now don't I? It's true. My instructor, Master Sergeant Frekkin said that I was a natural talent. I don't know about that. I just know that the MAAC trainer just felt right to me. As the rest of my unit struggled to get onto their feet, I was already standing and walking.
Anyway, maybe I should back up. First of all, we wear this really - I mean really - tight suits called (of all things) a neural suit. I mean, dagnag-it! I was downright embarrassed! Hadis, the girls sure looked hot! I wasn't the only guy holding his hands in front of his groin! Anyway, the neural suit links into the internal feedback system of the MAAC trainer. You half sit, half stand in this harness that captures your muscle movements and transfers them to the MAAC. They said that it was like wearing powered armour, but it's not. First of all, you don't really take full steps. You just flex your muscles and pretend to take a step. Ditto with the arm movements and the torso movements. The MAAC trainer is 40 tons of layered alloy armour. It's too stiff to exactly duplicate a person's movements. By the time the rest of my unit could stand straight, I was jogging a lap around the track. What can I say? It was fun!
After the exercise, one cute little blonde named Cinda came up to me and asked why I made it look so easy. I didn't know what to say so I said, "It's like wearing a huge piece of metal armour all around me."
She frowned at me and said, "I don't think so. I've heard of that comparison and I've worn powered armour in Infantry Basic and this was nothing like that."
She was looking at me rather intently and I was beginning to feel a little clenching in my chest. Dagnag she was cute! Her blonde hair was cut short in standard military fashion and her eyes were a strange shade of green. Her nose curled up ever so slightly at the tip and her lips were full and red and sweat poured down her face from her earlier exertion. I suddenly realized that she was waiting for me to say something so I improvised. "It's kind of like those VR sim games, you know? All you have to do is just stand as still as possible and move with minimal movements. Once you've trained your mind to adjust to how much minimal movement equals how much actual MAAC movement, you should be fine."
She cocked her head to one side and she had a strange smile on her face. "VR sim games? You mean like the ones where you simulate sex or the like the ones that teach martial arts?"
I felt heat rush to my cheeks. Was she flirting with me? I mean dagnag-it...girls don't come on to me! They usually go for my brother L'Cor who is tall, athletic and built like a rock. Most girls don't give my skinny frame a second glance. I stumbled a bit but finally managed to say, "Uh...martial arts of course. I just got my sixth degree platinum sash." I cursed inwardly. That sounded too much like bragging!
Cinda seemed impressed though. "Really? I've only got a third degree gold." She slowly turned away while maintaining eye contact for as long as possible. "Maybe you could show me a couple of pointers some time?"
"Sure," I stuttered. I watched as she turned and sashayed away from me. I couldn't help it. My eyes just could not look up from her round heart shaped butt. Dagnag-it, these neural suits left nothing to the imagination, which wasn't really that bad a thing when you think about it!
Anyway, that's it for now...signing off until the next time!
End of Entry
L'Cor still did not feel up to going into Ivan's shop to look for a Mick so he browsed through the AV journal until he found another entry that looked promising.
Start of Entry - Orbit 3011, 6th Moon, 26th Solar Cycle
We had our first live fire exercise today. By now, I've gotten somewhat used the dirty looks that many of my unit-mates shoot at me whenever they think I'm not looking. Even Cinda's attitude has cooled a bit towards me. We had a few sparring sessions as well as a couple of tutoring sessions, but they didn't lead to anything else. I think she wanted me to make a move of a sort, but I guess I was just too nervous. I mean, I've dated a few times in high school, but none of the girls I went out with were quite as aggressive as Cinda. I mean, I know she's a few orbits older than me and all that but dagnag-it! Everyone in my unit was older than me. They had all gone to Infantry Basic first before scoring high enough in their aptitude tests to go for MAAC Basic. As for me, I guess the high brass was getting antsy about getting frontline MAAC pilots because my enrolment officer had put me through a series of strange tests before bumping me directly to MAAC Basic. I'm practically a civilian and my unit-mates treat me as such. What would L'Cor do? I know what he would do! He would pummel anyone who dared to speak out and then he would take Cinda out on a weekend pass and show her a good time. Ah, who am I kidding? L'Cor would probably slap me on my back and ask me what the frak am I waiting for!
Anyway, by now, the whole unit was up and running and today, the instructors gave us a taste of real MAAC weapons. MAAC weapons came in two main flavours: mounted and held. A typical MAAC with a combat load had a mixture of mounted and held weapons. A mounted weapon was the type that was mounted on fixed hard points. These include the shoulders, upper arms and forearms, and upper thighs and waist. Mounted weapons tend to be heavier with more destructive potential and higher ammunition levels than held weapons. Held weapons have the advantage of being more versatile and a MAAC would switch out held weapons right on the battlefield without the aid of a Field Maintenance Unit. Heavy MAACs like a Drac'en could mount up to four heavy calibre weapons and be a truly devastating force on any battlefield.
Anyway, I digress. Today, they handed out small calibre auto-cannons that we held in the hands of our MAACs. At forty tons, our trainer MAACs were theoretically the equivalent of a large medium class MAAC - which meant that we could have mounted heavier weapons, but I guess on our first day, they didn't want us accidentally killing each other or blowing up the camp.
We were transported out into the desert and put through our paces. We started off with the standard range shooting at static targets. Everyone did fine here, even without the aid of targeting computers. However, when the instructors fired up the moving targets, the unit didn't do so well. When more than one person started to complain about the lack of targeting computers, Master Sergeant Frekkin called a halt to the practice.
"Cadet Lieutenant Penrag'n, front and centre!"
I keyed my S'Wave communicator and said, "Yes Sergeant!" All the cadets at the camp had an honorary rank of Cadet Lieutenant. That meant that I was technically higher rank than Frekkin, but hey, I wasn't going to try to pull rank!
"Uh oh, here comes the whiz kid!"
I don't know who said that but I ignored it. There were some muffled chuckles and several groans but again, I didn't pay any attention. It wasn't that I was trying to show off or anything. I just wanted to get through this training as fast as possible so that I could join my brother on the frontlines.
Frekkin fired up the Gauntlet, a huge combat simulator on an area large enough to host several starball stadiums. "Show these losers how it's done kiddo!". He hit my right shoulder with a thump that was hard enough to half turn me to face the Gauntlet. "Yes Master Sergeant!" I kicked my MAAC into a slow jog and entered the Gauntlet. My targeting computer was still down so I figured I would have to do this all on manual. A movement out of the corner of my right eye caught my attention. Without slowing down, I brought my auto-cannon in a one handed grip and fired off a shot. The target, a life-sized representation of a Saxx recoiled from the hit. It fell to the ground and I shot past it without another glance. The fact that it went down with only one hit meant that the Gauntlet wasn't programmed to simulate real Saxx behaviour. From everything that L'Cor has told me about the Saxx, it would take more than one shot from a small auto-canon to bring one down.
I was coming to the ‘Downtown District' of the Gauntlet. It had been modeled after a real city. There was a dark blur over my head that splattered on the wall of the building across the street from me. I glanced at it and felt a thrill of surprise. It was a globule of paint. They were going to shoot at me! Master Sergeant Frekkin must really want to see what I could do. They didn't usually let the targets shoot back until a trainee's fourth visit to the Gauntlet. I ducked down a bit and sprinted to the next intersection and dove to the right. I had just enough time to spot a Saxx in powered armour walking down the street with its weird three-legged gait. Of course I knew that it wasn't a real Saxx. It was really a mountain of plastic and metal overtop a thin moveable endoskeleton, but still, the sight of the weird looking monstrosity sent a chill down my spine.
I side stepped out from behind a building and fired off three quick shots. All three shots hit the main torso of the Saxx and then I ducked back before it could fire back. I heard a loud crash and I knew that the target dummy was down.
I didn't really have any mission objectives so I loped along inside the fake city for a while. I didn't have any radar so it was a pure combination of luck, reflex and instinct that let me avoid the next globule of paint. It splattered on the ground beside me as I looked around for the shooter. Far off in the distance, across a fake park, I saw a trio of Saxx in powered armour. There were two more faint blurs in the air so I dodged to the right and ran. As I ran, I saw on my secondary monitor that the Saxx were moving towards me. They were staying close to each other as they moved. This was a good thing for me. I suddenly pivoted and changed direction. I twisted my torso and brought my auto-cannon up. I couldn't shoot well from this angle so I transferred the auto-cannon to my left hand. That was the neat thing about held weapons. You could do things like change hands in the middle of combat! With the gun now in my left hand, I had a much better field of fire. I took aim at the Saxx on the far left so that if I missed, my shots would have a chance at hitting the other two. While wishing my gun had a full auto mode, I fired through the rest of my magazine. Semi auto just doesn't cut it for strafing! In any case, I had the satisfaction of seeing the centre Saxx fall down. Ok, so my aim was a little off! The other two suddenly split up, as if the remote human operators of the simulators realized what a bad idea it was to move in such close formation. I slapped another magazine into my auto-cannon and moved away.
I could see that they were going to try to encircle me, so I decided to find some cover. I lumbered over to another cluster of buildings and looked around for some cover. There wasn't anything that could cover me from two different directions. I glanced up and saw a hovering camera. Of course Frekkin and the rest of the unit would be watching. They all wanted to see me get iced. That wasn't going to happen! There was a large artificial pond off to the side. The water was dirty and very murky. What if?
I walked over and tested the depth of the water by placing my right leg in. The water level went as high was the thigh of my MAAC - about ten feet. Good enough! I quickly made my way to the centre of the pond and lay my MAAC down. It was awkward because I couldn't lie all the way flat without submerging my gun and my MAAC's head unit. I didn't know if either was waterproof and I didn't want to find out the hard way. If this didn't work, the shame and humiliation would be double. I half sat in a reclined position. I kept my auto-cannon horizontal to the water and the only other thing sticking out was the top of my head unit. With any luck, as the Saxx simulators came into this area, they would not be looking down at their feet.
Luck was with me. The first Saxx entered the cluster and scanned the area at what would have been eye level for it. I panned my head unit around until the cameras inside found the second Saxx, directly opposite of the first. I waited until they were both looking in different directions before making my move.
I triggered three shots into the first Saxx. All three shots made one large hole in the bottom of the Saxx's torso. I then sprang out of the pool in to direction opposite to where the second Saxx was looking. That gave me a precious second before its targeting computers found me. I fired off another three shots just as its arm brought up its gun in my general direction. It crumpled to the ground and I breathed a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, my MAAC shook as if something hit it. Dagnag-it! I'd let down my guard! Of course there were more Saxx in the area! There was no call for an end of the exercise though. That was strange. Didn't someone just splatter me with paint?
I pulled my MAAC around in a circle and it shook again. Oh frak! Why was it suddenly so sluggish? My MAAC finally squealed in agonizing slowness until it faced my latest attacker. It was yet another Saxx in powered armour, but this one had a very real looking auto-cannon in its arms. The muzzle of its auto-cannon spat fire and my MAAC jerked as if in pain.
Wait...the pain was real! That last shot must have dented the armour of my MAAC's torso, directly overtop of the cockpit. A small piece of the back of my mind said that the Saxx must have been firing short full auto bursts. The cockpit's interior shattered and a sharp piece of metal from my harness stabbed me in my right shoulder. Thank goodness my gun was still in my left hand!
I brought my weapon to bear and fired three fast shots. The Saxx recoiled but didn't fall. This one must have been programmed for realistic response! A light auto-cannon like mine wasn't going to stop it!
My mind raced as I tried to remember the weak spots in a Saxx's power armour. There weren't many. A Saxx out of armour was as big as a light class MAAC. In powered armour, it was bigger than a Drac'en. In combat, the only way to kill a Saxx in armour was to use heavy weapons like a Multi Barrel Cannon or an Aerial Remote Optical-recognition Weapon.
The Saxx fired again and this time, my auto-cannon flew from the remains of my MAAC's left arm. My eyes filled with tears of pain as I did the only thing I could. I charged the Saxx. I had one chance and one chance only. This was not a real Saxx. It was not in real powered armour. In reality, it was a hunk of plastic and cheap metal. If I could get in close enough, I should be able to take it off line. What happened after that was completely unknown.
I was hit twice more and another piece of my harness broke off and stabbed me in my left thigh. But I wasn't dead! I kicked out with my right left leg and one of the Saxx's three legs broke in response. It fell forward as I raised my pain filled right arm and smashed down on its torso. My MAAC's fist thundered through the plastic and metal plating and drilled deep into its body. The Saxx lay still.
There was a flashing red light as well as a siren that I did not hear until now. Master Sergeant Frekkin's voice rumbled in my ear, "Emergency! Emergency! Shut down the Gauntlet. Shut it down now! Medics on scene!"
I spit out some blood from my mouth. I must have bitten the inside my mouth as I fell forward onto the body of the simulated Saxx. I didn't care that the exercise was over. I'd won. They didn't get me! Only then, did I let myself black out from the pain.
Much later, I remember waking up in the hospital. Frekkin was there was well as General Mora, the base commander. General Mora was apologizing and explaining how someone had activated a live ammo drone in the Gauntlet and that it had followed a standard attack program. Live ammo drones weren't part of the exercise. Obviously, someone had activated it as a way to bring me down a notch. Frekkin stepped in and told me that they had found the culprits responsible and wanted to know if I wanted to be there to see their whipping and subsequent dishonourable discharge. I shook my head. I didn't care who was responsible. All I cared was that I'd won. They hadn't beaten me. Just like those bullies who used to beat up on me as a kid couldn't keep me down, these unknown culprits couldn't keep me down either. Just then, a nurse came in to my room and ushered Frekkin and Mora out. She turned off the light and I fell into a restful sleep.
The next time I awoke, it was still dark outside. The hospital was quiet but I instantly felt the presence of another person in the room. It was Cinda! She was dozing in a chair beside my bed. I took my time to really look her over. While at rest, her face looked like it was at least five orbits younger than she actually was. She was wearing standard off duty trainee clothes, which consisted of olive green shorts and t-shirt. That gave me a chance to appreciate how beautiful she really was. She had well defined muscle lines on her legs and arms. Anyone who went through Infantry Basic came away with great muscle tone. My eyes traced a line up her strong but feminine legs, over her tight stomach and briefly paused at her chest. I briefly wished that I could see through her shirt to the soft mounds that I knew was underneath but I quickly quelled that thought. A gentleman does not take advantage of sleeping women! I managed to pull my eyes up until they finally settled upon her open eyes. Yikes!
"You like what you see?" she asked with a small smile on her lips.
I...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare"
Cinda laughed and sat up straight. "I think I finally get you. I keep forgetting that you're younger than all of us here. What're you, like eighteen or something?"
My throat was too dry to answer so I merely nodded.
"Do you have a girlfriend back home R'Tus?"
My throat was still dry but I made an attempt to clear it and then said, "No, not really. I mean I've dated a few girls, but nothing serious."
"Good," said Cinda as she got up off the chair and leaned over me. She touched her lips to mine and gave me a deep long kiss. Yeah it wasn't my first kiss ever, but man, did it ever put me in orbit!
I felt her lips open in invitation and I hesitantly pushed my tongue up. It met up with something soft and wet and I felt a spike in my blood pressure as I realized that it was her tongue that was touching mine. Her left hand gently massaged my chest before making a slow burning path down my stomach, over my thighs, and then back up under my hospital gown. Her hands encircled me and my back arched involuntarily at the sudden rush of pleasure.
I must have gasped into her mouth because she pulled away and gave me a humorous look. "You're a virgin, aren't you?"
I barely managed a nod and her resulting smile dazzled me. "Good, this is going to be more fun than I thought!" Her left hand stopped what it was doing and before I had a chance to sigh, both of her hands went to the bottom of her shirt and lifted it up. She threw her shirt on the floor and quickly took off her bra. Her breasts were just beautiful. I'm not a very experienced judge but they looked large on her small frame. She took my left hand and held it to her breasts. I gently cupped one and then the other, marvelling at their soft firmness. She sighed and her hand traveled back down under my gown.
She leaned down again and whispered in my ear, "You were absolutely amazing yesterday in the Gauntlet. Everyone's talking about how a rookie took down four simulated remote controlled Saxx that were controlled by instructors and a drone that was programmed to kill with live ammo." She licked my ear and then said, "Everyone wants to meet you. I wanted to be the first so I snuck into the hospital." She sucked on my neck as her hands did something out of sight. Then she took my left hand again, and instead of moving it to her breasts, she directed it downward. I felt something that was smooth, wet and hot. I didn't need my imagination to know what it was! "See how much I want you?"
She climbed up on top of the bed while being extra careful with my bandaged left thigh. I could see that she was fully naked. She lifted up my hospital gown and gently mounted me. As she lowered herself, I felt like giant fireballs were going off in my head. I think I groaned a bit too loudly because she covered my mouth with hers and duelled my tongue with hers. All too quickly, my body suddenly rocked with spasms as I came long and hard inside of her. She rode out the storm with a bright gleam in her eyes. When the storm was over, she sat still for a few minutes before she started kissing and moving her body again. She started much more slowly this time and...
Ah..uh..ahem...sorry, I got a little carried away there with my narration. Hkumph! Oh well, too late now. It's not every day a guy gets to record his memories of how he lost his virginity right? Anyway, all of THAT happened earlier this morning. Cinda had to leave soon afterwards to get back into training. The doctor dropped by a few minutes ago and said that I should be able to rejoin my unit-mates in a few days.
Oh...wait...hang on a minute...
"What? Oh...uh thank you very much."
Ok, that was strange, a nurse just dropped by with a package...let see...Oh, it's a card and it's signed by my unit-mates. It says: Get well soon Ace! Ace? Well maybe not yet, but soon! Oh, here's another message. It says: Get some rest big boy. Your midnight visitor is coming back for a repeat performance!
Oh boy! I can't wait. That's it for now! Maybe I should turn this on later to record what happens? It would be for posterity, right? Nahhh! Signing off!
End of Entry
L'Cor laughed as he turned off the AV journal. He was sure that R'Tus would've been embarrassed to Hadis and back if he ever thought that his older brother would be watching his AV journal. Imagine losing your virginity to a hot blonde like Cinda! After the war, L'Cor had tried to find Cinda, but without a last name or even the name and number of the unit she was assigned to, it was impossible. That was a shame. L'Cor would've liked to meet Cinda so that they could reminisce about R'Tus together. L'Cor stood up and put the AV journal back into his pocket. He was finally ready to meet Mr. McMac!
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Post by ⓣⓡⓘⓒⓚⓨ48 on Feb 11, 2019 10:36:26 GMT -5
Bookmarked for coming back and reading this... thanks for posting this Koalabear!
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Post by Koalabear on Feb 11, 2019 10:58:22 GMT -5
Thanks @ ???48! I wrote this a lifetime ago and the board where I posted it originally weren't mech minded.
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Post by Koalabear on Feb 11, 2019 13:31:00 GMT -5
Chapter 3 Of Micks and MAACs
Ivan McMac was a big bea'ram of a man - even bigger than L'Cor. Ever since his days as a starball athlete in high school, L'Cor had become used to being somewhat bigger than everybody else. Ivan McMac though, stood at least a foot taller and his chest resembled the chest armour of a MAAC rather than that of a human. Ivan McMac's arms were heavily muscled and his face looked as if it were chiselled out of rock. His hair was snow white except near the crown of his head where he was bald. He looked up as L'Cor walked into the store. His sharp green eyes sized L'Cor up and his mouth broke into a broad and friendly smile.
"Welcome!" Ivan stepped out from behind the counter and offered his hand to L'Cor.
L'Cor took the hand in a firm grip and shook it. "What, no fanfare, no â??we've got the best bargains' speech?"
"Bah!" exclaimed Ivan. "The simple that fact that you are here means that you had the sense to stay in the taxicab. You value something more important than all the glitter and glitz that a corporate sponsor can give you."
Curious now, L'Cor asked mildly, "Oh? And what is that?"
"Freedom," said Ivan. "Freedom to dictate your own actions. Freedom to do as you please in this world. Freedom to decide when to fight and when to live to fight another day."
L'Cor narrowed his eyes and said, "You don't get very many new customers to you?"
Ivan heaved a large sigh. "Sadly not my friend. Too many youngsters are blinded by the glamour of being a Tournament Warrior these days. My customers are mostly the old timers who've done the circuit a few times and have managed to break free from those soul stealing scum buckets!"
L'Cor gave him a brief grin and decided to get down to business. "Tell me about the Micks."
"But of course!" rumbled Ivan. He clapped a friendly hand on L'Cor's shoulder and led him through the back doors and into the warehouse. L'Cor was amazed at what he saw. The warehouse was set up like a huge MAAC hangar. Instead of MAACs lining the wall stations though, there were a number of decidedly smaller machines. The machines came in many shapes and sizes. Some were humanoid with two legs and two arms. Others had tank-like treads instead of legs. Some even had a flat boxy platform where the legs should have been. These, surmised L'Cor, must be hovercraft types. Still others had either three or four legs. Despite the variances though, L'Cor could see that the MCCVs had at lease three distinct classes.
Ivan stopped in the middle of the warehouse and face L'Cor. "So, you're ex-military eh?"
"I never said I was," said L'Cor with a frown.
"You didn't have to m'boy!" Ivan laughed and the sound echoed in the warehouse like thunder. "It's written all over your face. It's in the way you stand, the way you walk, and the way you've already noticed that Micks come in three basic flavours â?? light, medium and heavy."
"You read too much into things old man." For some reason, maybe it was the open friendliness of Ivan, but L'Cor did not feel the usual resentment or anger he felt whenever someone brought up his military past.
"I'm just good at reading people is all," said Ivan. "In fact, I used to be in the military too."
"Oh? Were you a MAAC pilot?"
"Me? A pilot? Ha! They could never fit me into one of those neural suits! Didn't have one my size!" Ivan laughed again and this time, L'Cor laughed with him. He had to admit that the image of Ivan trying to fit into one of those skin-tight neural suits was pretty funny indeed.
Ivan wiped a tear from his eyes and said, "I was a MAAC crew chief and a dagnag good one too." Suddenly, Ivan face grew sombre as if remembering a sad thought. "When supplies got scarce at one point during the war, I had to send too many young kids out with unmaintained MAACs. Too many of those never came back. That's how I got into this business. Now, as long as kids have enough money, they get the best that their money can buy."
L'Cor remembered very well that time when supplies were scarce. He had been stationed in the northern hemisphere on the continent of Arca. The frontlines were scattered because the Saxx had the advantage of being able to land wherever they wanted. Most of the planetary resources were devoted to space defence to try to ward off future invasions. L'Cor had to admit that in the long run, it had been the right move because once the space stations were online, the number of successful Saxx incursions declined dramatically. Still, it had been a rough year. The only up side was that in the north, normal rules regarding fraternization had been relaxed in an effort to keep the spirits of the troops up and their body temperatures warm. L'Cor smiled at the thought and said, "I remember how glad I was when orders came in to do anything possible to stay warm. I got to know the other side of my troops quite well! Many of the maintenance and admin staff were women and very friendly."
Ivan let out a huge laugh. "I can imagine. You were stationed in Arca then? I remember when some of the stories started to filter back south, we had a sudden interest amongst our younger pilots to â?? oh how did they put it â?? join forces with our beleaguered brothers in the north!"
L'Cor's mood darkened. R'Tus had just finished MAAC basic at the time and was and was assigned to another unit on the front lines. It had been hard to pull the strings that would get R'Tus attached to L'Cor's own unit where he could watch over his younger brother, but in the end the transfer had happened. In hindsight, L'Cor now wished that he hadn't tried so hard. If R'Tus were never part of L'Cor's unit, then he would never have been in the Badlands that day, holding rearguard against a tidal wave of Saxx, only to be blown up by his own people's thernuke.
Ivan seemed to catch onto L'Cor's mood change instantly. "Here, let me explain the basics of a Mobile Civilian and Construction Vehicle." Ivan pulled out a hand held terminal and turned it on. It hummed as it projected a 3D hologram. Ivan spoke as he cycled through the images. "You probably know the history. The idea of using a civilian machine took form after the city of Atemus successfully repelled a Saxx attack with the help of some MCCVs that were hastily armed with some light MAAC weapons. The armed MCCVs supplemented the MAAC forces and although the MCCVs were almost completely wiped out, the Saxx were eventually beaten off. Later on in the war, armed MCCVs were often used by militia for guard duties, freeing up frontline MAACs for assaults.
"After the war, Gill'em Bates - a former militia man - came up with the concept of the Tournament. The idea took off like a L-Wave rocket and now he's the richest man in the world. The main difference between a Mick and a MAAC â?? other than the size that is â?? is the lack of a neural suit. So, if you joined the Tournament hoping to see some hot women in skin tights, you can forget it."
The joke lightened L'Cor's mood somewhat and he began to listen in earnest. Ivan chuckled at his own humour and continued on. "The pilot of a Mick sits in this cockpit, just behind the torso."
Ivan pointed his finger at a hologram representation of a Mick. There was a large humpbacked lump on the back. L'Cor had assumed that it was just some miscellaneous equipment but now he realized how wrong he had been.
"The obvious advantage of something like this is that that other than your frontal armour, you have your endoskeleton as well as your internal systems between you and incoming fire. You're a little more vulnerable in the back though, but then if you let someone get behind you long enough to get a good shot in, then you don't deserve to be in the Tournament. Anyway, in a fight, your Mick will likely become disabled long before any harmful fire comes your way."
L'Cor nodded his head thoughtfully. "What about an ejection system?"
"The whole cockpit assembly on all Micks are designed to break free and mini L-Wave engines will blast you free from the Mick. That way, you're still protected both from secondary explosions and from radiation."
"Radiation?"
Ivan face took on a serious cast. "Yeah. It's not that bad in Old Neomar since it was the first city that we had to nuke, but in other arenas, I've heard the radiation is still pretty bad."
"I'll keep that in mind," said L'Cor.
"The Micks are too small in size to have a sophisticated neural harness interface like the MAACs. Instead, the controls are fairly simple. You have controls that can be simplified with pre-programed responses and weapons that are not that much bigger than regular human sized weapons. Don't underestimate them though. A Mick sized auto-cannon can still punch through brick houses and a skilled Mick pilot can zip through city streets without slowing down."
When L'Cor didn't look convinced, Ivan turned off the terminal and waved his hand. "Come on, I've got something to show you."
Curious, L'Cor followed until Ivan came to a stop beside a maintenance bin. Ivan reached in and pulled out a heavy glossy sheet of supple plastic looking material. "I'll give you one free maintenance check if you can guess what this is."
L'Cor took the material in his hands and examined it. The surface of the material was smooth and shiny. He found that it was also very stretchy and when he put his arm in it, it conformed itself to the contour of his arm. As for colour, he found that he couldn't really judge the colour of the material, which was rather odd. It seemed to catch the light a little differently depending on how he turned the material. "I suppose that if I were to cover something with this, it would make whatever was underneath very hard to see, right?"
Ivan chuckled. "Dagnag-it. I should've known that an ex-MAAC pilot would figure it out. I guess I owe you a free maintenance check. All you have to do is buy a Mick from me!"
L'Cor laughed out loud. He was beginning to like Ivan McMac! "So, what is it exactly?"
Ivan took the material from L'Cor and explained, "This is a sheet of Optical Camouflage. They were working on this during the war but could never get them to work properly on a MAAC. I think it had something to do with the sheer size of a MAAC. Basically, you throw this baby on top of your Mick, and boom, the internal fibre batteries kick in and the OC blends in with its surroundings. It's not perfect, but if you use it right, it'll give you an advantage. Just don't forget that your opponents have it too. The batteries don't last too long though so you have to watch that. With a little luck and by standing perfectly still, you can effectively mask your presence and get the jump on your opponents. Move around too much and the OC won't be able to keep up with the change in your surroundings and then you'll stick out like a sore thumb. Oh, and any impacts will disrupt the illusion and potentially break the fibre wire underneath."
L'Cor gave the material one last look and said, "Stay still and don't get hit. Got it. How many of these would I have?"
Ivan shrugged his titanic shoulders. "It depends on what OC module you load on your Mick. Anywhere between five and twenty in a module. You could theoretically install an OC onto the outside of your Mick and have your Mick's engine power it. It would give you unlimited camouflage â?? until you got hit that is. Some of the contestants are known to do that."
"If I got hit, I would lose my advantage entirely." L'Cor shook his head and said; "I think I'll stick with using it when I have to."
Ivan nodded approvingly. "Good man. Now, on to specifics. As I said before, there are three main flavours of Micks: light, medium and heavy. Much like MAACs in fact. The other nice thing about Micks is that every component is modular which is why you won't find actual model names attached to any one Mick. Brand new Micks are stamped with a tag when they roll off an assembly line, but that tag is quickly obsolete as pilots start customizing their Mick."
That was definitely a new feature for L'Cor. With a MAAC, what you see was what you got. The only thing you could customize was your weapon load outs. "Are there any limits to the customization?"
"In theory? No. In practiceâ?¦wooo boy, I could write an entire book! The basic rule is don't make your Mick heavier than what your engine can handle. For example, if you put heavy arms on a light frame with a light engine, not only will your Mick be slow, but also the arms might rip right out of their sockets at the wrong time. Best thing is to stick with modules that were designed for your class."
"Light arms on a light frame. Got it"
"Now, we can either start customizing your Mick from the ground up or you can browse through my collection of complete Micks."
"What's the difference?"
"By customizing, you will be using parts that I've traded back from other contestants or parts that I've been able to salvage from the arena. As for the complete Micks, well, it's usually a waste of time for me to build a Mick without a custom order so all the complete Micks I've got are from pilots who've died in the arena. I usually buy back their Micks and the proceeds are used to fund their funeral. I then fix them up and hope someone will buy one or two as a spare Mick."
L'Cor raised his eyebrows and asked, "Any luck with that?"
Ivan sighed deeply. "Nah and not for what you think either. There's no stigma attached to a Mick whose pilot has died. Everyone who enters the Tournament knows that there's a distinct possibility of that happening. I guess in today's suddenly peaceful world, many people need this sort of outlet. Besides, with the population growing the way it has, and with the number of liveable places are so limited, in a bizarre sort of way, we need this to give people something to do and look forward to."
Ivan sighed and led L'Cor to another terminal. This one was solidly installed into the wall and it had a large holo projector. Ivan turned it on and continued to speak. "In truth, I can't even pretend to understand what drives someone to enter the Tournament. It's not like we're at war or anything. All I can do is make sure that the kids who come to my shop are properly prepared for what's out there." Ivan powered up a program and when it finished loading, he typed on a keyboard as images in the holo projector changed around. "Ok, let's get started shall we? First of all, choose a class. Light Micks are usually pretty fast and manoeuvrable, but lack heavy armour and lack the ability to use the heavier Mick weapons. Heavy Micks are the exact opposite while medium Micks are a combination of both. I usually advise new pilots to go for a medium."
L'Cor gave the matter some serious thought. Like many MAAC pilots, he had started off with the light Wyv'en and as he moved up the ranks, traded in his Wyv'en for a Grif'cen and finally a Drac'en. R'Tus was one of those rare pilots who preferred a Wyv'en for its mobility and speed. "If I go with a heavy, a good pilot in a light will run circles around me. If I go light, and get cornered, I'll get the frak pummelled out of me. If I go with a medium, I won't be able to keep up with the lights and I can't go toe to toe with the heavies." L'Cor thought some more while judging the pros and cons of each."
"There is no tried and true formula," admitted Ivan. "It all depends on your style of fighting. For example, for obvious reasons, pilots of light Micks tend to use hit and run tactics. Pilots of heavies like to face their opponents' head on and pilots of mediums are the jacks-of-all-trades. The reigning champion of the Tournament pilots a medium Mick."
"Really? Let's start with a medium and see where that takes us."
Ivan hit a button on his keyboard and a series of images appeared on the holo projectors. From their shapes, they were obviously Mick torsos. "I won't bore you with model names or numbers. Do you prefer a rounded armour or angled armour?"
"Well, rounded armour would be good against missiles while angled armour has a better chance of deflecting bullets. Neither is very effective against lasers. Hmmm." L'Cor's old Drac'en had angled armour and an anti-missile system as well. "Can you equip a Mick with an AMS?"
Ivan nodded affirmatively. "Sure, but it'll take up one of your four weapon hard points."
L'Cor made up his mind. "Ok, let's go with the angled contour. I'll just have to be fast on my feet against missiles."
Ivan punched a few buttons and an image of a torso with a triangular front became enlarged. "I like this particular one myself. It's a little more aerodynamic than the other models. Now, how about the legs? You have five choices. You can have two legs, three legs, four legs, treads or a hovercraft." Five 3D images of the various leg choices showed on the holo projector.
L'Cor looked at each one carefully. "All the leg types have built in rollers?" When Ivan nodded, L'Cor continued. "The treads and the hover types probably allow for heavier loads but there's obvious disadvantages."
Ivan smiled broadly. "You have a good eye. I'm glad I don't have to do the explaining for once!"
L'Cor shrugged nonchalantly as if it didn't matter to him. "The treads will probably allow for the heaviest loads, but it's obviously very slow. If I were in a heavy Mick, I'd consider it. The hover type is tempting but my experience with hovercraft is that they throw up a lot of dust. That won't work well with the OC, right?"
"That's right. Not only that, if you ground your Mick in order to use the OC properly, it could take you a good few seconds to fire up your blowers. Depending on how you time it, those few seconds could be critical."
"I don't particularly want to go with the three or four legs. I can't imagine what kind of ride that would be. Let's go with the two legs. You got any that can take a heavier load without suffering too much in speed?"
Ivan worked on his keyboard. His face had a thoughtful expression. "Let's seeâ?¦Kotobiuya had a Mick model recentlyâ?¦Ah, here it is." A pair of legs appeared on the holo projector. They were chunkier than any of the others and the rollers on them were also larger. "These babies have a stronger endoskeleton and better mechanical muscles. Not only that, those rollers are bigger too. If you don't weigh down too much on your weapons, you should have good zero to running speed acceleration. Top speed is nothing to sneeze at though."
"Top speed is not that important in an urban setting anyway," said L'Cor.
"True, but you'd be amazed at what some of these kids think is important these days."
"I'm not a kid"
"Also true! Ok let's move to your weapon systems. You have four hard points for weapons and one for your jump jets. Theoretically, you could take out the jump jets and put in another weapon but I wouldn't advise it. The jump jets are pretty standard. You could keep the ones that come with the torso or you can attach either bigger or smaller ones."
"Are the jump jets directional?"
"Yup. If you wanted to, you can hunker down on your rollers and use your jets to go faster."
"Let's keep the jets then. How much is this adding to so far? I want to know how much money I have left for weapons."
Ivan typed in some more numbers and then said, "You're looking at around one hundred and thirty thousand credits so far."
"Frak!" exclaimed L'Cor. "You sure these are all used parts?"
Ivan shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, I have to factor in my time to fix these parts up after I salvage them from the arena and the undamaged parts that get traded in have a high resell value. If you want, I can try to arrange for some private sales."
L'Cor did some quick calculations in his head. He had just over two hundred thousand credits to his name. That had to cover his living expenses for a while plus the purchase and maintenance of his Mick. After his first game in the arena, he should hopefully have earned more money. "Never mind that. After my first game, I should either have enough for better weapons or I'll be dead."
"Don't forget the entry fee to some of the games. The entry fee ensures that only contestants of a certain level of skill are allowed to join. The lower end games are free but the prize money attached to each contestant is less."
"Tell me how that works. I've read about it but I still don't quite get it."
"Well basically, the Tournament puts up a certain dollar amount as prize money for you when you enter a game. This amount is based on your stats and your skill. For example, since you're new and an unknown, your prize is worth two thousand credits. Whoever takes you down will earn that prize money. As you play more and earn more wins, your prize value goes up. For the higher end games with the entrance fee, the fee you pay is added to your prize worth, which makes potential winnings in those games rather high. However, generally, you'd be facing top notch pilots in those games."
"Ok, that makes more sense now. How long does each game last?"
"Generally, each game last until there's only one pilot left functioning. The tournament managers have been talking about setting different kinds of game scenarios but most of those are team based."
"I guess I'll worry about that later then. Now, I'm used to fighting with a balanced weapon load out. One multi barrel auto-cannon, one laser, a missile system and a howitzer type of cannon for blast damage potential."
Ivan snorted incredulously. "Good luck trying to find that kind of load out. Not only is the cost for weapons such as those astronomical, the combined weight of the weapons you described would make you as mobile as a rock."
L'Cor sighed. "Fine, tell me what I can get for fifty thousand credits."
Ivan started typing on his keyboard and several weapons choice appeared. "For fifty thousand credits, I would advise the following: one light rapid fire cannon, one medium shot cannon, one spring-fire grenade launcher and one single tube missile system. The RFC is basically a Mick sized auto-cannon and the shot cannon is a Mick sized shotgun. The grenades won't do much damage unless you score a direct or near direct hit, but even a far miss will disrupt most OC. The single tube missile system fires one missile at a time. This will basically be your most destructive system. The single tube missiles systems have larger warheads and the lock-on times are faster. In multi tube systems, each missile needs to lock on individually which means that while you can shoot up to six missiles at once, only the first few will have locked on."
"Why is that? I'd hate to have to wait that long to lock on only to lose half my missiles to pointless targets."
"Two reasons. First, it's cheaper and second, you can target multiple enemies at once that way."
"Yeah, but it'll still take me forever to lock on. If I put two STMs on, will they both target at the same time?"
"Sure, you can link their fire control systems like that. But you'll be giving up the grenade launcher."
"Not a problem. Switch out the medium SC for a light one. That'll give me more ammunition for probing possible hiding places. Then put a medium RFC in place of the light one. That, I think, will be my primary weapon."
Ivan whistled. "Ok, you're the customer." He made the changes then hit one final button. On the holo projector, L'Cor's Mick was taking shape. The triangular torso sat upon the blocky legs. On the right side, was a rapid-fire cannon and on the left was the shot cannon. On the back, two single tube missile systems sat on the cockpit assembly, just above the jump jets. A blocky head unit sat on top of the torso. "When you get more money, you can update the targeting sensors and computer in the head unit. Right now, the basic models will do you just fine in the lower end games. Also, I've taken the liberty of installing a twenty-pack OC module in there. Looks like we're set. Ready to check out?"
L'Cor fished out his pocket computer and connected it to Ivan's terminal. On his screen, he could see the appropriate number of credits being taken out of his account. "How soon can I expect it?"
"It'll take about a week. Come back in a couple of days to check the status."
L'Cor nodded and turned away. That was when he saw her. She was young, somewhere in her mid to late teens. She wore a ripped blue denim jacket overtop a thin white tank top that was threadbare in some strategic places. She also wore a tiny leather miniskirt that looked as if it barely reached past her hips, long white stockings that went past her knees and spiked black shoes. Multi coloured dyed hair; heavy makeup and several lengths of steel chain around her neck completed her attire. She blew out large pink bubble from the gum she was chewing and approached L'Cor and Ivan.
She stopped a few feet away and looked disdainfully at L'Cor. "Why doncha take a holo? It'll last longer."
L'Cor hadn't realized that he'd been staring. "If I had a holo recorder, I would. Are you dressed like that on a dare?"
The girl ignored L'Cor and addressed Ivan. "Is my Baby ready?"
Ivan said, "Yup, hang on." He pulled a handset from his pocket and spoke into it, "Jan! Is Yoko's Baby ready? Yeah, ok, come and get her." He put the handset away and said, "Baby's ready. Go and meet Jan by the repair shop's door ok?"
Yoko blew another bubble and then snapped it shut. She inclined her head in L'Cor's direction and asked, "Newbie?"
"Registering him today. He just bought a Mick."
Yoko made a show at staring at the holo of L'Cor's completed Mick. "You're going to be piloting that?" She snorted contemptuously. "You're braver than you look."
"No braver than you for putting on that ?strong independent woman who don't need no man? outfit!" L'Cor could feel his anger rise. Who the frak was this little girl which the giant attitude? If she had shown up in MAAC Basic dressed like that, the NCOs' would've been all over her like grif'cens on a rab'hit.
Ivan sucked in a deep breath in shock. He held up a placating hand to the girl and said, "He didn't mean that Yoko. He's new here."
Yoko gave L'Cor one last look and said, "Phfft! See you in the arena Newbie. I'll be looking for you!" She turned and walked off. When she got to the far door, it opened and a younger version of Ivan greeted her and together they walked through the door.
"Who the frak was that?" demand L'Cor.
Ivan ran a hand through his thin white hair. "That, my friend with the death wish, is Yoko Ana. She's the current reigning champion of the Tournament."
"Her? That little thing?"
"Look, you have to remember that once you get inside a Mick, physical differences don't mean anything. At nineteen orbits old, Yoko is the youngest champion ever of the Tournament. She's chalked up over one hundreds wins in the arena. A fair number were kills to boot."
L'Cor silenced his anger. Ivan had a point. Even the smallest recruit in the war became a giant as soon as he stepped into the harness of a MAAC. That was just something else that Micks and MAACs had in common. "What was this Baby that she was talking about?"
"Ah, good question!" Ivan instantly cheered up. "Remember when I said that Micks didn't have model names? Well, Mick pilots usually name their Micks. Yoko's Mick is called Baby. A rather silly name for an extremely competent and serious warrior." Ivan pulled up another menu on the holo projector and started typing on his keyboard. "Ok, I can register you into the Tournament from here. Full name please?"
"Sure. It's L'Cor Penrag'n"
Ivan's head snapped back to look at L'Cor with questions in his eyes. He stared at L'Cor and said hesitantly, "Penrag'n? Any relation toâ?¦never mind. There were probably many Penrag'ns in the military." Ivan went back to typing and finally said, "Ok, what name do you want to give your Mick?"
L'Cor was curious as to what Ivan was going to ask, but since the other man did not ask, L'Cor didn't push the issue. He thought about how he felt about himself these days. Why had he decided to throw everything away and come here? Was it as his sister Q'wen had said: so that he could feel alive again? It was true that ever since war had ended, L'Cor had felt as if he were nothing but a shadow of his former self - a ghost that was doing nothing but exist. Also, when R'Tus had died, L'Cor had had a nervous breakdown and it had taken him weeks to get over that. It had almost been as if his internal systems had crashed and needed to be rebooted. Suddenly, he smiled grimly. He knew what to name his Mick. "Call it Phantom. Phantom Crash."
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Post by Koalabear on Feb 12, 2019 10:43:16 GMT -5
Chapter 4 Mistakes and the Lessons They Teach
Start of Entry - Orbit 3011, 9th Moon, 15th Solar Cycle
They say that MAAC training is almost over. Apparently, we're in this accelerated course because they're desperately short on trained pilots. I don't know about that. I've been receiving somewhat regular communications from L'Cor. From everything he's told be about what actual battle is like as well as the average survival rate of new MAAC pilots, I'm afraid that most of the trainees my unit are just not ready. I sometimes wake up in a cold sweat from dreams of Cinda getting swarmed under by Saxx. Yes, I can probably admit it here. I'm falling in love with Cinda. I mean who wouldn't? She beautiful, smart, funny and sexy as hell. Oh yeah, and she's the first woman I've ever had sex with. Maybe that's why I feel the way I feel about her, but I sure have never felt this way about anyone. Well, anyone that's alive I guess.
Ugh, I guess I'll have to explain that a bit. See, ever since I was a child, I've been addicted to this book. It's called, History of Royal Gaya. It's chock of full of stories of the time before people on Gaya made that first important step towards the technological age. Most people call that time the Simple Age while I tend to just think of it as a Simpler World. The world that I had lived certainly wasn't simple. My father died while I was still young. I barely remember him. I know for sure that Q'Wen doesn't while L'Cor probably remembers him the best. Anyway, he left behind this book; this supposed history of our planet. Anyone whose read it knows that it reads more like a fantasy novel than it does a history text. Anyway, as a kid, I was drawn to the stories of knights, fair maidens and wizards and witches. Yeah, I know, how can anything to do with magic be a part of our technological world? Anyway, I digress. The book chronicles how our planet came to be called Gaya. Way back then â?? and other texts have verified this â?? our world was nothing but a bunch of continents and separate countries that were always constantly at war with each other. One ruler managed to unite the majority of the countries on her continent and her descendants went on to unite the rest of the world. By the time the technological age rolled in and connected the continents with unified communications, the world had taken her name, Gaya. Anywhere you go, you can find representations of her. I don't know how accurate they are, but as I kid, I've always thought that she was beautiful. Maybe that was why I was more partial to blondes.
Anyway, I've been in love with Empress Gaya (or Princess Gaya as she was known before she conquered a continent) ever since I was a little kid. But that was an infatuation right? I mean, how could I really love someone who's been dead for over two thousand orbits? That meant that these feelings that I'm feeling for Cinda must be real, right?
In any case, Cinda was fast becoming a competent MAAC pilot. She wasn't quite near my level, but then again, who was? By now, even the instructors have stopped trying to take me down a notch. I didn't let it get to my head though, which was probably why I was fairly well liked. I remembered the advice that L'Cor had given me. He told me to never make enemies of those who may one day watch my back. If they resented or hated me, they may one day decide to watch in a different direction.
So, I tried to act as modest as possible and didn't hold my skill over anybody. Truly, all I wanted to was to get out to the frontlines as soon as possible. I wanted to join up with L'Cor and strike back at the monsters that had destroyed my home and killed my mother and stepfather.
I'm digressing again. Anyway, we had just completed a series of complex exercises when Master Sergeant Frekkin ordered us into teams. He made me a quad leader and told me to pick out three team members. The first one I picked was Cinda. She beamed at me with that brilliant smile of hers. After her, I chose Jonson and Micah. Jonson was an early supporter of mine and Micah and I both came from same province and there was that bond of similar backgrounds.
The teams split up to discuss basic tactics. I put Cinda on my wing and paired Jonson up with Micah. Jonson was a fairly good pilot but Micah needed a lot more polish. Frekkin came over and gave us our mission brief.
"Alright Penrag'n. You and your team are part of Blue Team." He pulled out a map card and projected a map and began to make notes. "Red Team is here. They are the defenders. Blue Team has to break into this compound and take Red Team's flag. I'll be in command of Blue Team. Master Sergeant Sosa is in charge of Red. I want you to take your quad and knock out this communication relay here." He highlighted an area that appeared to be a valley with densely packed trees. "After you knock that out, the main Blue force will advance and you'll rendezvous with them at the compound. Any questions?"
My mind was racing furiously. The mission objectives seemed simple enough. What other things were they going to throw at us? "No Sergeant."
"Good man. Now get your team ready. You move out in two hours."
After he left, I took the holo map and showed it to the rest of my quad. "I think we've been dealt a bum hand guys. I'm sorry."
"What're you sorry for?" asked Cinda.
"Look at this valley. There's no cover except for trees and there could be who knows how many bad guys up on the rim? No, I think they're going to spot us the moment we enter the valley and pick us off from long range." By now, we'd been assigned the full complement of available weapons. The ammunition was underpowered, but it was not unknown for trainees to get hurt in these training exercises.
"What do you propose we do?" asked Jonson.
I studied the map. I had a few options and I liked none of them. "Ok, Frekkin didn't say anything about how fast we had to knock out the communications relay. Jonson, you and Micah will enter the valley from different locations. You'll both load up with missiles. You're job is to keep their attention away from Cinda and I. Fire your missiles randomly throughout the valley to keep them confused. Move fast and they might think that this was a full-blown push. That might even get them to pull some troops from the compound so that when the rest of Blue Team pushes in; there will be fewer of them. Once Cinda and I take out the relay, get the frak out of the valley. You should be low on missiles by then.
"So we just retreat and leave you guys in there?" Micah didn't look happy at the idea.
"With any luck, they won't even know Cinda and I are there until it's too late. Any questions?"
"Just one, oh fearless leader." Cinda was studying the map intently. I tried not to get distracted by how her neural suit flexed in and out as she breathed. I was trying very hard not to think of our session last night. It had been especially hot. "How are you and I supposed to sneak in?"
I pointed to a large river that flowed through the valley. "How do you feel about a swim?"
*
The plan went fairly well until Cinda and I were almost to the relay. She and I were outfitted with Hyper Velocity Cannons and satchel charges. Not the most balanced of loads but HVCs could be submerged in water without fear of water clogging anything critical up. I don't' understand the technicalities myself, but the HVC was basically an L-wave engine connected to a long magnetic tube. The L-wave engine energized the magnets in the tube that propelled a large metal slug at hyper velocities. There was no muzzle flash that could give away our position to any nighttime observers. The HVC was usually reserved for heavy MAACs that could bear the weight as well as the recoil but I figured that if we fired from the river, the water should help with both the weight and the recoil. It was the closest thing to a sniper rifle that a MAAC could have.
We had just emerged from the river over five hundred yards away from the relay. I could see the large satellite dish without the need for magnification. The bright moon overhead provided ample light. There were no alarms or hostile fire coming our way. We had gotten in undetected! At this point, I suffered a moment of uncertainty. If Cinda and I could have gotten in undetected, could I have snuck in my entire quad? I knew second guessing myself at this point was dangerous so I rationalized that while Jonson might have been able to make the swim in the river in his MAAC, there was no way that Micah could have. While Micah was a solid man to have around, he lost his sense of balance as soon as he was encased in tons of dur-alloy armour.
Suddenly, the night sky lit up with explosions. Micah and Jonson were making their move! I looked carefully and saw two distinct flashes. Dagnag-it! They were even more visible than I thought they would be! If I could see them from my vantage point, then the opposition up on the rim of the valley could too!
"Cinda, continue on to the mission objective! I'm going to try to give Micah and Jonson some cover fire."
"Roger that!"
Cinda's MAAC continued towards the relay station. She unlimbered a satchel charge as she walked. I took my attention away from her and studied my secondary monitor. Jonson was doing well. He was moving around a lot and firing from seemingly random positions. Micah, on the other hand, was not. He seemed to be stuck in one position.
I keyed my S-wave and ordered, "Micah! Get your butt in gear!" I saw a flash from up the side of the valley and marked it with my targeting computer. I magnified and saw the vague outline of a MAAC. It had a boxy missile launcher on its right shoulder. I brought my HVC up and aimed carefully. I knew the weapons being used in this exercise were underpowered, but a solid slug traveling at six times the speed of sound will still do significant damage. I aimed for the other MAAC's waist and pulled the trigger. The other MAAC recoiled violently and on my secondary monitor, I saw it collapse as the right leg broke away. The recoil of my weapon's discharge rocked me on my heels but I fought to stay upright.
"Help! I think I stepped in something. I'm stuck!" Micah's voice came through clearly on the S-wave communicator.
"Hold tight!" I ordered. "Do not fire!" If he fired any weapon right now, it would be like putting up a signal flare as to where he was. Without the ability to move, he would be a sitting du'kar.
To this day, I'm not sure if either he heard my order too late, or he didn't hear it at all. I saw a flash from his position and realized with growing horror that he had just fired a missile. At the same time, as if by some evil twist of fate, Cinda's MAAC shuddered from multiple impacts. The relay station was not unprotected!
At that moment, I did something no quad leader should ever do. I froze with indecision. Who do I help? Who do I save? Looking back now, I know that there never really was a choice. Cinda was closer and her enemy was clearly in front of me. Micah was somewhere in the valley and probably had several unseen enemies targeting his position right now. Cinda was the only one that I was in a position to help.
Cinda's MAAC had fallen face down. She was still over three hundred yards away from the relay station. I could see two MAACs in previously concealed positions taking aim at Cinda's prone MAAC. I took aim at the closer one and let fly with a metal slug. This time, due to the distance, I could see first hand, the result of my handiwork. My 'slug' was nothing more than a computer-generated image. The other MAAC rocked backwards realistically and my own MAAC shuddered from the computer-enhanced recoil. A moment later, the other enemy MAAC fell spun away as Cinda's slug hit it high in the right shoulder. She hadn't fallen as I had thought! She was simply taking a prone firing position so that she could fire her HVC properly.
I turned to look for Micah and that was when I saw multiple lines of fire meet at his last known position. "Micah! Micah! Respond! Micah!" I got no response from Micah so I called out to Jonson. "Jonson! Head over to Micah and check him out."
"Roger that!"
Jonson must have heard the urgency in my voice because he used his jump jets instead of running. I saw his MAAC rise up over the valley, a small human shaped object riding of twin plumes of smoke. I saw it jerk suddenly and then plummet towards the ground. I keyed my S-wave and yelled, "Jonson!" When I didn't get a response, I keyed a private call to Master Sergeant Frekkin. "Sarge! Emergency. Pilot down. I repeat, pilot down!"
"Don't get your panties in a bunch son. I got it!" Frekkin's drawl was somewhat soothing, but I swore I could hear some tension in his voice.
Meanwhile, Cinda got close enough to the relay station to throw a couple of satchel charges. They stuck to the side of the relay and I hear a chime in my helmet. "Mission objective complete," said a feminine voice.
Cinda formed up on my right and together, we headed out of the valley. With our current weapons load, we would be useless in the final assault so we set a course for home base. Cinda was quiet during the entire trip and I didn't feel much like talking. I kept worrying about Micah and Jonson. I knew that I had screwed up, but I wouldn't know just how badly until much later.
End of Entry
Start of Entry - Orbit 3011, 9th Moon, 20th Solar Cycle
Today, we were dressed in our full dress uniforms as we paraded in the central square. The band played deep mourning tunes as the drum pounded out a slow marching beat. File by file, we slow marched past the casket that was d?grape? with the Royal Gayan Armed Forces colours.
I marched with my unit and saluted Micah's casket as we marched past. It had gone down in the record books as a training accident. Micah's MAAC was hit several times by underpowered missiles, but a lucky hit set off the underpowered warheads in his own MAAC. That many explosions at once was enough to tear Micah's MAAC apart. To this day, I still don't know why Micah had stopped moving. Was it a servo malfunction or had he stepped in a large hole and couldn't get out? In either case, it didn't matter. Micah was there on my orders. He was armed solely with missiles on my orders. His death was my responsibility.
Later, Cinda and I visited Jonson at the hospital. When his MAAC was hit in midair by a simulated HVC slug, his computer had cut the power to his jump jets and he had broken a leg as he crashed. It really hurt me to see him hurt because of me and I apologized to him.
"Why're you apologizing?" he asked with a frown. "It was my mistake for hitting my jump jets like that. I should've stayed closer to the ground and did a ground boost."
"It was my plan, therefore it was my fault that you got hurt and that Micah died." I sounded like a sullen little kid and I knew it.
"Hey, it was a gutsy plan and we all agreed on it, right?" Jonsen looked meaningfully at Cinda and eventually, she nodded her head. She seemed to be deep in thought about something.
We sat around and hung out with Jonson for a while longer before heading out to the cafeteria for some food. We found a quiet corner and sat down with our food and began to eat quietly. Finally, I couldn't stand the silence anymore and asked, "Cinda, is everything alright?"
She looked up and I could see her eyes were damp. "Things are not alright. I've realized that I need to do something unpleasant and I'm working up the nerve to do it."
"What're you talking about?" Uh oh, I know that look and that tone!
"I've realized that I've been extremely selfish in keeping you all to myself. It's time for us to be non-exclusive."
"What do you mean? Are you breaking up with me? Please don't!" Dagnag-it! I was sounding like a whiny little kid again!
Cinda smiled wistfully. "How can we break up when we were never really together? R'Tus, what we hadâ?¦it was just sex and nothing more."
"How can you say that? Of course it wasn't just sex! Cinda I lo-"
She suddenly reached up and touched my lips with her hand. "Don't. Don't say it! You don't love me R'Tus. You can't. You don't even know anything about me."
"I know a lot," I protested. "I know that you love mornings and the colour of the sun as it rises. I know you have a soft spot for cute animals but you hate the Saxx with a passion. I know you've lost as much as I have because of this stupid war. I know-"
"Shhh," said Cinda quietly. "Please don't make this harder than this is. Don't you see R'Tus? Training is almost over. There has been dozens of young women making mooneyes at you in this camp. It's not fair for me to keep you all to myself."
I shook my head vigorously. "I don't care about anyone else. I just care about you!"
"R'Tus please. When training is over, we'll be assigned to different units all over the world. There's no way we could make a fling into something else in those kinds of conditions."
"It's because of the exercise isn't it? It's because of my mistakes that got Micah killed and Jonson hurt."
Cinda hesitated and said gently, "Partly, but not for what you think. At first, I thought it strange that you wanted me on your wing. After all, Micah was the weakest one in our quad. He should have been on your wing where you could have looked out for him."
"I didn't choose Micah because I didn't think he could have swam in the river in his MAAC."
"But you would have been there to help him. Besides, that river wasn't that deep. We walked our MAACs in chest deep water. I wouldn't exactly call that swimming. Anyway, I'm not second guessing your plan â?? just your motives."
"Motives?"
"What was your real reason for pairing up with me? Truthfully."
I opened my mouth but didn't answer right away. She had me and I knew it. I just didn't have the guts to say it because I knew it would only solidify her decision.
She didn't wait for me though. She stared intently at my face and said, "I thought so. R'Tus, I'm not a damsel in distress that needs protecting from you. I'm a soldier in a war against giant alien invaders who've killed most of my family. There's no way you can keep me safe and there's not a chance in Hadis that I'll let you either."
I didn't respond. I had nothing to say. She was right. She was right about everything. I guess maybe in the back of my mind, I had made her out to be Princess Gaya, with me the Black Knight. But Cinda was not a princess and I was not a knight.
Cinda gathered her food and stood up. "I'll see you around R'Tus."
I stared down into my plate as she walked away. I had learned a very valuable lesson. I would never again get involved in any way with anyone under my command. My relationships to those in my quad must remain strictly professional. I can never again allow my personal feelings cloud my judgement.
After Cinda left, my table seemed to fill quickly with young women from various other units. As with Cinda, most of them were older than me, but I guess I was getting used to that. They talked animatedly. Most of them wanted to know how I did what I did with a MAAC. I answered truthfully that I didn't really think it was all that special. That just seemed to get them even more interested. By the time I left, I had several invitations for private tutoring sessions and a few blatant recreational sessions. Dagnag-it! Women in the military sure were aggressive!
In retrospect, I guess they have to be. Military service draws a certain mind set. Not only does it draw those with a natural killer instinct, it draws those who truly appreciate what it means to have a lifespan that was shorter than civilians. In the military, if you saw an opportunity for pleasure, you took it with both hands wide open. Who knows when you would have another opportunity like that? Who knows if you would even live to see the next sunrise?
I walked back to my barracks feeling a lot more light hearted than I should have been. After all, didn't I just get my heart broken? Did I? Was I truly in love with Cinda? I think so. But then again, I think my heart always did belong to someone else - someone who only lived in my book and my dreams. In my dreams, Princess Gaya rode upon her drac'en steed while I, the Black Knight, ran tirelessly beside her.
End of Entry.
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Post by Koalabear on Feb 15, 2019 13:05:49 GMT -5
Chapter 5 First Blood
Two weeks after ordering his Mick, L'Cor was piloting his Mick through the deserted streets of Old Neomar. During the two weeks, he had definitely not been idle. After placing his order, his next order of business had been to find a place to live. With the funds left to him, that meant renting a cheap apartment in the slums of New Neomar. L'Cor hadn't minded too much. He'd lived in much worse during the war. As for worldly possessions, he didn't have much. He carried R'Tus's AV journal with him at all times, and everything he owned was considered replaceable. If fact, he hardly spent any time in his apartment at all. For the first week, L'Cor had spent as much time as possible in Abin Town, a small entertainment district in New Neomar. L'Cor wasn't too interested in the various entertainment possibilities in Abin Town. In fact, he only went for the Mick simulators. For a few credits, he could lock himself up in a metal and plastic sphere and teach himself how to pilot a Mick. For the first few days, the spectators around him had laughed long and hard at his expense over his clumsy antics. However, after a few days, he eventually got the hang of the controls and the spectators stopped laughing so hard.
A week after he had ordered his Mick, L'Cor went back to Ivan's shop and checked out his newly assembled Phantom Crash. He also put down a one-month garage fee to Ivan for housing his Mick. The advantage for L'Cor other than having a secure place to store his Mick that is is that Ivan had a large plot of empty land where he could practice handling Phantom Crash. For about one hundred credits a pop, he could have computerized drones run around the land for target practice. L'Cor had noticed a few times that Yoko Ana had come by to see him practice but he had ignored her presence.
Now, in his first ever game, L'Cor struggled against his nervousness. The controls in Phantom Crash were not all that difficult. It just took some getting used to. In a MAAC, the neural suit provided a quick control system that ensured fast response times between pilot and machine. In a Mick, L'Cor had to rely on manual controls for everything. L'Cor could have chosen to automate some of his controls, the way many newbie pilots did, but L'Cor didn't want to be caught in a situation that his pre-programmed commands could not get him out of.
The foot pedals controlled the leg movement of the Mick. Alternating pressure on the foot pedals made the Mick walk forward. One of the buttons on his left hand control switched the Mick into reverse. If L'Cor dug in both heels and lifted his toes up, the rollers on the legs of the Mick came down, allowing L'Cor to zip down streets. If L'Cor dug in his toes and lifted his heels up, his jump jets kicked in. Digging in either left or right toes allowed him to boost to either side while digging in with alternating left and right heels allowed him to skate his Mick with a side-to-side motion.
His left and right hands gripped joysticks that primarily controlled the weapons on each respective side. For example, the right index fired his rapid-fire cannon while his left index trigger fired his shot cannon. The middle buttons on both joysticks fired his missiles. The little thumb caps on his right joystick controlled the torso twist of his Mick while the left thumb cap controlled the direction that the Mick traveled in. It was possible to be facing one direction while moving away from where you were looking but it was easy to get confused if one wasn't careful. The helmet on his head was linked with the cameras and monitors of the Mick. Wherever L'Cor looked, the Mick would also look too. There were even more secondary controls enough for L'Cor to seriously miss his old MAAC with the neural suit interface.
A blinking red dot appeared on L'Cor's right secondary monitor. This monitor showed the results of various scans performed by the Mick automatically. Right now, the monitor was showing a possible heat signature about one hundred yards away from where L'Cor was now. The heat signature could either be another Mick, residual heat from an earlier explosion, or even residual radiation. If it was another Mick, chances were that the other pilot had already seen L'Cor's heat signature as well.
Instead of heading directly for the signature, L'Cor hit his jump jets and jumped onto the roof of a nearby building. Before L'Cor had a chance to fully rest the weight of Phantom Crash on the roof of the building though, he hit the jets again and jumped to an even higher building. He kept moving until he reached the top of a medium sized office tower that was about twenty stories tall. The roof of this building showed obvious signs of heavy wear and tear, which meant that he was not the first Mick pilot to seek refuge up here.
The heat signature had vanished from L'Cor's scanner. He decided that it was very likely that the heat signature had been another Mick whose pilot had just activated his/her Optical Camouflage. He crouched down and scanned the streets in the direction where the heat signature had come from.
He panned the camera back and forth but could not see anything obvious. He had to admit that the OC was a very tactically useful tool on the battlefield. If he had had the OC during the war, he probably wouldn't have lost so many pilots to the Saxx.
L'Cor had two choices. He could either wait until his opponent's OC ran out of power or he could do something useful. The longer he remained stationary the more he increased the chance that someone else might come along and take a shot at him.
He decided to make one more sweep before making a tactical withdrawal. That was when he noticed something odd. All the buildings in the street cast a shadow, and all of the shadows were leaning in one direction. All that is except one, one of the buildings cast only a partial shadow, as if something were standing in front of the building. That something had to be the other Mick.
L'Cor's missiles were useless, as they had nothing to lock on to. He swivelled his right joystick and aimed his reticule at the centre of the where he thought the other Mick was and pulled the trigger. Phantom Crash shuddered as its RFC unloaded hundreds of .75 calibre rounds. On his HUD, the target area shimmered as the rounds hit. Suddenly, the OC on the other Mick failed, and he had his first clear image of his opponent.
The other Mick was outfitted with treads instead of legs. That marked it as a heavy Mick. The arms and shoulders bulged with heavy weapons and L'Cor shuddered to think what would have happened if he had not had the advantage of height and surprise.
A dual tone pinged in L'Cor helmet. His missile launchers had a solid lock! He released the RFC's trigger and pressed both middle trigger buttons at the same time. Phantom Crash recoiled slightly as two large missiles flared out from its shoulders. L'Cor watched the missiles as they traveled to their target.
The other Mick was just starting to move forward and bring its weapons up when the missiles hit. As a massive fireball engulfed the other Mick, he suddenly realized how vulnerable he was standing on the edge of a tall building. He reversed slightly before charging forward and jumping off the roof. As Phantom Crash started to come down, he dug his toes into the pedals and eased Phantom Crash down on a pillar of smoky exhaust. He hit the ground running with all of his weapons pointed at the other Mick.
There was no movement from the other Mick. He didn't think anything could take two solid direct missile hits at the same time and still be functional. He was right. As he approached the other Mick, he could see that it was a flaming wreck.
Suddenly worried for the safety of the other pilot, he rushed forward to see if he could help. This was a fellow human being after all, not an alien Saxx!
The cockpit assembly of the other Mick was still attached. On the side, there was a large pink logo with the works, âFizzy Pop!' painted on the side. He waited anxiously for the pilot to eject. His hands were reached out in front of him in an unconscious attempt to help.
"Get the frak out of there!" hissed L'Cor. Dagnag-it! If only Phantom Crash had hands like a MAAC!
There was no movement though. An alarm chimed in L'Cor's cockpit, warning him of an eminent explosion. He backed off several yards just as the other Mick exploded. He had his first victory in the Tournament.
Another alarm chimed and he saw an advancing heat signature. Another Mick was coming to investigate! He backed himself up until the back of Phantom Crash was flush was the wall of a building. Then L'Cor activated his OC. The glossy material popped out of the top of Phantom Crash's head and d「grape」 itself over the Mick. Its internal fibre batteries charged up and it changed its colour to match its immediate surroundings. L'Cor took a deep breath and waited.
He didn't have to wait long. A four-legged Mick came ambling down the street. It had a weird gait, not unlike that of a walking spider. L'Cor watched at it approached and decided that there was a distinct advantage to having four legs. Not only could it bear heavier weapons, but it was also a pretty stable platform for shooting while moving.
The legs were centrally attached so that if the Mick lost a leg, the other three could compensate. However, if the Mick were to lose two at the same timeâ¦
Thought became action as he disengaged his missile launchers and brought up both targeting reticules for the rapid-fire and the shot cannons. Not only was the range too low for missiles, he didn't want the other pilot to know that he/she was being targeted.
As the other Mick walked past, he hit both triggers. The distance to the other Mick was only about twenty yards. At this range, the light shot cannon was bound to do some damage while the medium rapid-fire cannon would be devastating. He targeted both cannons on a single leg. As soon as it collapsed under his fire, he shifted his aim to another leg. It too broke apart under his withering fire. At the same time though, his OC flared and failed with a rippling snap. Obviously, firing one's weapons while under the OC cover will destroy it. He vowed to be more careful in the future.
A moment later, the Mick fell backwards. "I yield!"
L'Cor was startled to hear the voice coming through his helmet. He had not thought that he could speak with the other contestants during the match. He keyed his communicator and said, "I accept."
"Good shot by the way."
"Uh, thanks."
L'Cor's OC ran out of power and he stepped out of his hiding place. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"Yeah, just a little bruised up. Hey, is that Yorich up there? Did you do that?"
"Yes, but I didn't mean to kill him."
The other Mick turned its head unit around until it was facing L'Cor. "Don't worry about it. We kept telling Yorich that he was piling on too many heavy weapons. He has those great big treads. He should've been putting on more frontal armour." The other Mick waved its left arm weapon, "By the way, I'm Lani and this is my Mick Arachne. You're new right?"
Bemused, L'Cor waved back and said, "Yeah, I'm L'Cor and my Mick is called Phantom Crash."
Lani laughed out loud. "Well you certainly are a phantom and you definitely crashed me! Better get out of here newbie. Other Micks are probably on their way. Don't expect other pilots to simply walk past your guns like I did."
L'Cor was utterly surprised by the lack of rancour in the other pilot's voice. Wasn't he angry at being shot? "Right, thanks Lani. Uh, see you later?"
"Count on it. Meet you at the Pecca bar after the fight. You can buy me a drink. It's the least you can do with the prize money you just won off of me and Yorich!"
"Sure thing." L'Cor pushed his heels in and fired his jump jets behind him. Phantom Crash shot off like a rocket down the street. He wanted to put as much distance between him and the scene of the fight as he could. He planned on circling back around to see if he could get the jump on anyone else coming to investigate. He was glancing up at the sky when he saw another Mick jumping from roof to roof.
The other pilot must have seen L'Cor at the same time. An alarm shrieked in L'Cor's cockpit. He was being locked on with missiles! His scanner monitor automatically switched views. It showed several small objects heading towards him at high speed, he kept his velocity up and waited until they were almost on top of him, then suddenly cut to the right at the next intersection. As the missiles exploded against some buildings behind him he fired his jump jets, jumping to the roof of a nearby building.
Phantom Crash rocked back and forth and the screeching tortured sound of metal upon metal hammered L'Cor's ears. Dagnag-it! The other Mick was still after him! He fired his jump jets to the side and dodged the next barrage of bullets. As he turned his torso, he saw his attacker jumping from rooftop to rooftop. L'Cor let his STM's acquire a lock and then let fly with a staggered one two launch. This time, he didn't repeat his mistake of watching the missiles fly. Instead, he jumped off his roof and headed back down to street level. He booster-rolled his way to an open park before spinning around to face his opponent.
The other Mick was still bouncing from rooftop to rooftop, however, when L'Cor zoomed in, he could see some damage on the Mick's left side. L'Cor let fly with another pair of staggered missiles, then charged forward this time while keeping his eye on the other Mick. One of the missiles hit the Mick below the waist. He had time to see damage to one of the legs before his other missile hit the Mick in the torso. He fervently hoped that he had not killed this pilot as well.
The other Mick landed on the field about one hundred yards away. One of its legs promptly broke apart and it fell face first into the ground. "I yield!"
This time, L'Cor was expecting the call and called out, "I accept!" He gave his opponent a friendly wave as he sped away.
L'Cor headed back towards the area where he had left Yorich's dead Mick and Lani's disabled Arachne. Sure enough, there was another Mick poking around the area. He waited until he got a double tone and cut loose with a staggered missile launch. This time, the distance was greater and the other Mick had time to dodge around the corner. Both missiles missed. He checked his quickly dwindling ammunitions supply. He would have to be more careful.
Instead of racing down the street, he cut down an adjacent one, hoping to cut off the other Mick. He stepped out into the next street with all weapons ready to fire. However, all that confronted him was an empty street. Where was the other Mick?
He glanced at his scanner monitor. There were no telltale heat signatures. That meant that either the other Mick had dropped under its OC, or it had run out of the range of his scanners.
L'Cor fired his shot cannon down the street. At this range, he couldn't hope to damage anything. However, that was not his intention. The little individual ball bearings inside SC rounds fanned the width of the street as L'Cor panned back and forth. In the distance, around 300 yards away, he saw a shimmering outline. He quickly fired his RFC just as the other Mick's OC shredded apart with his opponent's return fire. Either the other pilot panicked or he/she had deemed it necessary to fire through the OC. Whatever the reason, the result was the same.
L'Cor felt a few impacts just as he boosted away from the front of the street. A small missile hit Phantom Crash high in the chest while five more small missiles arched overhead. In return, he fired off a single missile that hit the other Mick's left shoulder, destroying both the left arm and shoulder weapons. He fired another burst from his RFC as he closed and he had the satisfaction of seeing multiple impacts stitch their way up the other Mick's torso.
Just then, the other Mick's frontal armour caved in and the entire machine fell forward; he saw a small explosion before seeing the cockpit assembly fly backwards. The other pilot had ejected!
Rather than hang around, he chose a side street at random and boosted down it at well over eighty-five miles an hour. He had run through over half of his RFC ammunition and he had five missiles in one launcher and six in the other. Only his shot cannon had over seventy percent of its ammunition capacity left. He had to find a resupply depot. According to the game brief, there were a total of six contestants in today's brawl. He had taken down four contestants so far, which left one more to go. He had not seen any sign of the last Mick, which meant its pilot was very cagey. He/she had not gone to investigate the firefight like the other pilots had. He would have to be careful, as he might not have enough ammunition for an extended battle with a wily opponent.
As L'Cor wove through the streets, he kept an eye out at the rooftop line, just in case his last opponent decided use height against him. He turned another corner and was suddenly greeted by a large warehouse type building. There was a large âResupply Depot' sign on top. He stopped and scanned the plaza before him. It occurred to him that this would be a great place for an ambush.
The sudden shriek of the missile lock on alarm rewarded his caution. He had no idea where his opponent was and since doing something was better than doing nothing, he boosted to the left so that his RFC could cover the plaza. His instinct was good. As he sped in a zigzag pattern, he spotted the puffs of multiple missile launches. He kept his speed up and let the missiles chase him. Only two missiles came close to hitting him. He rounded a corner and then hit his jets for a vertical boost. He saw a blazing red line of light fan the area that he had just vacated. Frak! His opponent was armed with a laser! He had not had enough money to put any anti-laser modules onto his Mick. If that laser touched Phantom Crash, it was all over for him!
The nice thing about the laser though, is that it let him trace a line back to its originator. He saw a heavy Mick on treads rolling away from the remnants of its OC.
He got a lock on tone from his launchers and fired both missiles. He hoped that this pilot at least had better frontal armour than poor Yorich.
Both missiles hit the Mick on its upper torso but did no appreciative damage. As he came down from his jump, he fired his jets again and rolled towards some cover. If two of his missiles didn't faze his opponent, he wasn't sure if the other weapons in his arsenal could do much better. He had to find some way to get behind the behemoth!
L'Cor watched his scanner screen as the other Mick rolled towards him on a perpendicular course. The pilot was smart. He/she was trying to keep him in scanner range so that even if he were to drop under his OC, the other pilot would have a good general idea of where he was.
L'Cor turned at the next intersection and began raced down the street. He was now running down a street that was parallel to his opponents. The distance closed and he suddenly jumped into the air. He had a few precious seconds as he fired both missiles at once.
Both missiles hit while his opponent's return fire missed. He rolled down another street that would bring him closer to his opponent. As soon as he came across some short buildings, he jumped again and fired another two missiles. Again, both missiles hit but the monster was still coming on strong! What would it take to bring this monstrosity down?
The next intersection would bring him face to face with the heavy Mick. Instead of rolling straight through it, he alternated his foot pedals until he was skating Phantom Crash like an ice skater. These juking motions made the other Mick's pilot miss with both the laser and its missiles. However, its heavy shot cannon threatened to destabilize Phantom Crash's course. When he was about one hundred yards away, he headed straight for his opponent and then jumped.
The other pilot tried to follow his motion and missed with all four missiles. L'Cor fired his jump jets to the side while in midair in a desperate attempt to turn Phantom Crash around.
When he landed behind the other Mick, he had only managed to turn Phantom Crash about ninety degrees. However, he thrust his right thumb cap all the way to the left and Phantom Crash twisted its torso another ninety degrees. In the classic âfrom behind' position, L'Cor let loose with everything he had. He aimed at the waist, where the torso connected to the heavy treads. Two heavy missiles hit in that area, followed by several hundred .75 calibre rounds. Thousands of ball bearings added to the carnage.
There was an explosion as the other Mick's pilot ejected the cockpit from the rest of the doomed Mick. The armoured sphere flew over his head and landed somewhere behind him. It was over! he had won!
A bell chimed in L'Cor's cockpit and an aerial map overlaid his heads up display. He followed the flashing arrows that were blinking on the map and slowly made his way out of the ruined city.
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Post by Koalabear on Feb 15, 2019 13:09:13 GMT -5
Two chapters today!
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Post by Koalabear on Feb 15, 2019 13:09:30 GMT -5
Chapter 6 A Simpler World
Start of Entry - Orbit 3011, 10th Moon, 40th Solar Cycle
Eventually, I graduated from MAAC Basic. I never did have sex with Cinda again, but there was no shortage of volunteers to share my bed. I learned from my previous mistake and I didn't let my emotions get away from me even when I saw Cinda pairing off with different men. After all, it was just sex, right? Life in the military was short. Fraternization was not forbidden or even frowned upon. Who knew how long our life expectancy would be once we hit the frontlines, right?
Anyway, on the day we graduated, I did have a nice conversation with Cinda and we exchanged personal information and promised to keep in touch. I think deep down though, we both knew that neither of us would keep that promise.
After the ceremony, I spent a nice week of R and R with my other favourite person in the whole world. My baby sister Q'Wen. Well, she's not quite a baby anymore, but she certainly is my only other blood relative. She had just turned twelve orbits old and was developing quite the ferocious reputation at the boarding school. I guess it was both L'Cor's and my faults that she grew up to be a tomboy.
We were walking down Main Street in our home city of Avon Mist. She was hugging my left arm as we walked. I didn't mind. L'Cor is several orbits older than me and though I'm sure he doesn't mean it, he tends to be an overbearing older brother sometimes. With Q'Wen, I got to be the older brother for a change. This was going to be one of the last few completely free times that I would have for her so I really wanted to make it special. I pretty much blew my entire pay from MAAC Basic on her. What did I need the money for anyway?
Life for Q'Wen hadn't exactly been a picnic. Come to think of it, it wasn't a picnic for me either. My father had died when I was young. He was an astronaut in the Space Exploration Force and had disappeared during a mission. In hindsight, it wasn't hard to figure out what had happened. His team was probably one of the first human teams to come in contact with the Saxx. Our mother eventually remarried a doctor (Q'Wen's father) and we moved to another neighbourhood in Avon Mist. About six orbits ago, a large spaceship crash-landed in the suburbs and three gigantic three-legged armoured war machines crawled out and decimated the entire area. Q'Wen and I were not home at the time. We were downtown, watching our big brother lead his high school starball team to victory in the championship game. My mother and step-father never had a chance.
Ok, enough with the bad memories. Q'Wen and I had spent the afternoon watching a movie. Not just any movie though. This movie was loosely based upon my favourite book, History of Royal Gaya. Unlike documentaries that downplayed the magical and fantasy aspects of the book, this movie actually featured them. It was refreshing to actually see certain scenes of the book brought to life on the huge holoscreen. The actress who played Princess Gaya was very pretty and actually came really close to my own mental image of her. The actor who played the Black Knight however, left a lot to be desired. He was, in a word, a lump who barely managed to deliver his lines. Oh well, can't have ‘em all, right?
Q'Wen was chatting amiably and I really enjoyed my time with her. Then, she asked a question that floored me.
"Did you have a lot of sex in MAAC Basic?" She was smiling a devilishly innocent broad smile.
I suddenly missed a step and tripped. "Excuse me?"
If possible, her smile seemed to grow even broader. "Sex! You know, that thing that happens when a man and a woman like each other. Sort of what happened in the dark when the Black Knight and Princess Gaya were alone."
I choked on my own saliva and muttered a bit. I certainly never expected to talk about sex to my twelve-year-old sister! "Um, well, ah, well, the women in the military were certainly very friendly."
She giggled in response and I had to laugh with her. Then she asked me another unexpected question. "So, did seeing Princess Gaya for real make you love her even more?"
"How did you know?"
She rolled her eyes and said, "I hacked into your AV journal the first night you visited!"
The boarding school had rooms for visiting family members and I had vague memories of Q'Wen visiting me in my room. I had been so tired from traveling that I had fallen asleep soon after I got in. It seems as if Q'Wen had used my downtime to her advantage. I suddenly remembered my first few recordings. "Did you…uh…"
She giggled again and said, "You really should keep in contact with Cinda. I'd really like to meet her one day when this war is over."
I sputtered some more. There was so much I could say right now but I didn't know where to start. At first, I felt somewhat peeved that my privacy had been invaded, but when I looked into Q'Wen's face, I couldn't feel mad. She hadn't seen me in several moons, and probably won't see me for many more - maybe even orbits. What harm was there for her to have some insight into my inner most thoughts?
When I didn't say anything right away, her expression grew concerned. "Are you mad at me? I'm sorry I peeked, but you really should put a better password on your journal, you know?"
I gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm not mad Q'Wen. In fact, if you want, I'll give you a copy of my journal before I leave."
Her concerned expression suddenly grew deeper. "Why? You're coming back, right?"
I stopped walking and gave her a hug. "Q'Wen, it's a war. Anything can happen. If something happened to me, I just want to make sure you have something to remember me by." I fished my copy of History of Royal Gaya out of my pocket. "Here, I was going to give you this before I left anyway. I might as well give it to you now."
Her eyes grew as big as saucers. "But that's your treasure! When I was little, you wouldn't even let me touch it! It's all you have left of your father!"
I glanced at the battered book. It really was my treasure and I felt a pang in my chest at the prospect of never seeing it again. It had been a good companion on those lonely nights. I took Q'Wen's hand and pressed the book into it. "Don't worry. I have an electronic copy in my journal. I want you to have this. When our home was destroyed, we never got a chance to recover any mementos of our parents. L'Cor is not sentimental enough to want to leave anything behind, but I am. If something happens to me, I want this book to remain in our family."
Tears were streaming down her face now. "Don't die R'Tus! Please come back!"
I hugged her again until her storm of tears passed. What could I say? I couldn't lie to her and tell her that I would be back for sure. Anything could happen, right? When she got control of herself again, we continued our walk. It really was a nice day and I wanted to make the most of it.
Later that night, she stayed in my room and curled up in my bed. I sat on the floor and we talked about nothing and everything. Then, she surprised me for the third time that day. She sat up in bed and said, "Tell me a story, please?"
When she was younger, I used to tell her stories from the book to her. Instead of reading the archaic words from the book, I would use plain simple language so that she would understand. "Which story would you like?"
She thought for a moment and then said, "Tell me that one about how the Black Knight rescued Princess Gaya from the Mordue Hunters."
I gave her a playful frown. "What? That one again? I must have told you that one a thousand times!"
"It's my favourite," she said simply.
I had to agree. It was my favourite too. It was the story of how the Black Knight and Princess Gaya first met.
I started to talk and I could see that Q'Wen had closed her eyes so that she could picture my words in her head.
"Princess Gaya rode through the Damon Forest with her Royal Guards. They normally would not have tried to pass through the dreaded forest but they had to return to the city of Camu as soon as possible. The Mordue were massing an army and Princess Gaya had to rally her own forces. Their drac'en steeds wove through the forest trails with slithering ease. All was quiet in the forest. Too quiet. That should have been Princess Gaya's first warning. However, she was so concerned with getting back to Camu that when the ambush occurred it caught her and her Royal Guards completely by surprise.
Drac'ens have short stout necks with large serrated teeth. They have large noses but their eyes are rather small. As such, while they have an excellent sense of smell, their eyesight left a lot to be desired - especially in the dim light of the forest. Princess Gaya might have seen the tripwire, if she wasn't so concerned with reaching her destination.
Her drac'en snagged the wire and a cleverly concealed spear shot up from the ground and impaled her steed. She hit the ground hard and rolled away from her drac'en's death throes. Behind her, her Royal Guards had met a similar fate. Two of them did not get back up.
A horn trumpeted through the forest and in moments, Princess Gaya and her remaining guards were surrounded. Their enemy wore dark amour with horned helms. They were the Mordue Hunters! The Hunters specialized in tracking and killing important people for the Mordue Empire. In a way, Princess Gaya felt honoured. The Mordue Emperor was willing to dispatch his prized Hunters to hunt down and kill one princess of one little obscure nation. Her efforts to unite the smaller kingdoms must be taking fruit!
She parried an attack with her buckler and stabbed her long sword into the belly of her attacker. The armour was thinner there and her attacker grunted in pain. He dropped his sword and grabbed Princess Gaya's blade with both hands and fell backward.
With her sword pulled from her grasp, the Royal Guard immediately closed ranks around her and formed a protective circle. Princess Gaya could do nothing, as her loyal guardsmen died one at a time to protect her.
When the last of her guards fell, Princess Gaya picked up a sword, backed up against a tree and prepared to sell her life and her chastity dearly. There were only four Mordue Hunters left, but it may as well have been four hundred because there was no way she could beat four to one odds.
Suddenly, blinding white light filled the forest. Princess Gaya looked away from the intensity. Even the four Hunters could not look directly at the light. Princess Gaya allowed herself to feel a small thread of hope. Surely this magical light could only mean that her wizard Malin had come to her rescue? The light seemed to last forever but eventually it died down. When she could, Princess Gaya looked back over to her right where the light had come from. Her heart sank. Instead of seeing her wizard Malin as she had hoped, all she saw was a tall figure in black armour. It was just another Mordue Hunter!
But wait! Could it be? The helm on the newcomer was not horned in the fashion of a Mordue Hunter. As the newcomer strode forward, one of Hunters raised a crossbow and fired it at the newcomer.
A cry of warning froze in Princess Gaya's throat as the crossbow bolt shattered on the chest armour of the newcomer. But that was impossible! At this short range, nothing short of a stonewall could stop a bolt!
The Hunter that fired the crossbow readied his weapon for another shot. Two of the Hunters charged the newcomer while the last one turned his attention once more to Princess Gaya.
One on one odds were a little bit more to Princess Gaya's taste. She sidestepped a lunge, stepped into her opponent's charge and hammered her buckler into his helm. It was enough to distract him for a precious second. She used that second to step back and swung a powerful horizontal blow that parted the Hunter's head from his neck.
The Hunter with the crossbow took careful aim with his weapon. Princess Gaya was about to charge him when a brilliant red light flew from the newcomer's head and drilled a hole through the Hunter's helm. The Mordue fell without a sound.
A warrior mage! Surely only a warrior mage could have cast a death spell while locked in combat with two Hunters!
At two to one odds, even a trained Royal Guardsman would have difficulty in winning. However, the newcomer treated them almost like playthings. Instead of fighting with his sword, the newcomer raised his left forearm to block a mighty overhand attack. The Hunter's sword broke in half at the impact. Then, the newcomer used the same left arm to punch the Hunter in his chest. As the Hunter fell, Princess Gaya could see a large dent in his armour.
The last Hunter swung his sword in desperation. This time, the newcomer raised his own sword in response. It flared up as a blue magical light engulfed it. The newcomer contemptuously batted the Hunter's sword aside and then passed his magical sword through the Hunter's neck with an almost gentle ease.
Princess Gaya took off her helm and said, ‘I thank thee, fierce stranger for thy timely aid. I am Princess Gaya of the city kingdom Camu. Might I have the name of my rescuer?' In response, the newcomer removed his own helm and for the first time in her life, Princess Gaya laid eyes upon the Black Knight."
A soft snoring sound distracted me from my narration. Q'Wen had fallen asleep. I smiled as I gazed upon her face. She looked so innocent when she slept!
I sighed as I thought about the story was I telling. How many times when I was growing up, did I wish that I was there at Princess Gaya's side? Compared to an invasion by giant three-legged alien bugs, uniting a continent seemed much simpler.
Although I had long since stopped believing that this book was a true account of our history, I never could shake the desire to be a part of the story. This story had fair maidens, dashing knights and miraculous magic…Hadis, who wouldn't want to be part of it?
Apparently, our father was something of a fanatic too. After all, he had named his sons L'Cor and R'Tus. These are mimicries of an ancient Gayan dialect. Leicour for heart and Erthus for the colour black. My mother obviously carried on the naming convention with Q'Wen, which is taken from Queen. Put them all together and you get Black Heart of the Queen. Or, for those of us who are familiar with the legend, Black Knight who holds the love of the Queen this is obviously a reference to the great romance between Princess Gaya and the Black Knight.
I think I'm going to follow in Q'Wen's footsteps and call it a night now. Tomorrow, I'm going to take Q'Wen to the amusement park where she's going to try to thrill me with the rides there. How could those puny rides possibly thrill someone who has jumped out of an space shuttle with nothing but a few layers of alloyed armour and jump jets that may or may not work is beyond my understanding!
End of Entry
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Post by Koalabear on Feb 25, 2019 13:16:23 GMT -5
Chapter 7 The Champion
L'Cor stumbled away from his companions as they left the Pecca bar. "See ya later guys!"
His companions laughed and waved. Lani, the friendly young pilot of Arachne yelled, "Get home before you hurl!"
L'Cor chuckled and gave Lani a friendly gesture that involved folding all his fingers except his middle one. Lani and his friends laughed again and walked away.
L'Cor took a deep breath of the night's air and started walking in the general direction of his apartment. Tonight's party had been to celebrate another one of L'Cor's victories in the Tournament. Thus far, he had won ten matches with only minor damage to Phantom Crash. He was really starting to get the hang of piloting a Mick but deep inside, he sorely missed piloting a MAAC.
As with other parties, L'Cor had passed the night away by drinking and swapping war stories for Tournament stories. He also enjoyed debating the virtues of Micks versus MAACs with his fellow Tournament players. Now, with the party over, he only wanted to get back to his ratty apartment so that he could watch another entry from R'Tus's journal before he passed out. R'Tus's journal was special in more than one way. Not only was it a record of R'Tus's thoughts and feelings, but also the way that L'Cor came to possess it was special. After that fateful day, the one when R'Tus had died while holding back a tide of Saxx so that L'Cor and the rest of his tri-quad could get to minimum safe distance, L'Cor had collapsed onto his bunk only to find R'Tus's AV journal already occupying it. As far as L'Cor knew, R'Tus kept the journal close at hand at all times, yet somehow, had managed to sneak it into L'Cor's bunk the day he died. It was almost as if R'Tus had somehow known that he would not be returning. L'Cor was not normally someone who held on to sentimental mementoes, but somehow, he knew that he was meant to have R'Tus's journal.
L'Cor turned down a dark alley to take a shortcut. As soon as he was sure that no one was around, he straightened up and lengthened his stride. There was no way these young pups could ever out drink him but he wasn't about to let them know that!
He heard laughter coming out of the darkness, followed by a loud indignant scream. Unlike the laughter, the scream definitely sounded female. L'Cor frowned and turned his stride into a jog. Someone was in trouble up ahead!
He skidded to a halt at mouth of another alley. This one was darker than the rest and he could barely make out four or five figures at the end of the alley. He heard more raucous laughter followed by a string of curses shouted by a feminine voice.
"Ha ha! Hold her steady will ya? I'm gonna do her good!"
"Yah Jok!. Do her man! Come on!"
"Not so tough out here in the real world are ya?"
L'Cor heard the sound of cloth shredding and suddenly, he was past all thought. He raced down the alley and bulldozed his way through the crowd of dark bodies.
"What the frak?!"
L'Cor lashed out with his right fist and was rewarded with a thud and a grunt of pain. A hand bearing a knife flashed in his face and he blocked with his left forearm. Before his attacker could recover, he twisted his left hand and grabbed the wrist of his attacker. L'Cor heaved to the side and threw his assailant into another dark figure.
Something jabbed him in the back and he hissed with pain. He spun around and kicked out with his right foot. He felt more than heard the kneecap of his attacker breaking.
A beer bottle hit him a glancing blow on his temple and his vision blurred. He saw a young roughly dressed man with a mean looking knife come towards him. Suddenly, his arms refused to move properly. He stared helplessly, as the knife got closer and closer.
A small brightly coloured form leapt from the shadows and kicked the knife away. A reverse roundhouse put the thug down onto the ground for the count.
L'Cor blinked his eyes several times, not quite believing what he was seeing. It looked as if a small girl was kicking and screaming obscenities at the man on the ground.
L'Cor couldn't hold his head up anymore. He sank to his knees and closed his eyes for just a moment. The next thing he knew, he was staring up into the dark eyes of a young girl. The girl looked vaguely familiar but L'Cor couldn't place it at the moment. The girl snapped a bubble from her gum and said, "Gonna take a holo this time old man?"
Recognition finally hit L'Cor's brain but before he could say something heated in return, his mind blanked as he passed out again.
*
L'Cor awoke to the sound of someone coughing. The sound was ugly and nasty, as if the person coughing were trying to expel something from their system. L'Cor opened his eyes slowly and stared up at the dirty ceiling. Where was he? He remembered a brawl of some sort. Some guys had thought it would be funny to abuse and 「grape」 a young helpless girl.
Only, the girl wasn't all that helpless. Yoko Ana! He had rescued Yoko Ana, and then in turn had been rescued by her! Where the Hadis was she. Wait...where was he?
"There there now. Take a deep breath and drink this." The voice was soft and soothing.
"I don't wanna. It's tastes terrible!" The second voice sounded old, tired and raspy.
"Come on, don't be a baby. It'll help you sleep."
The second voice suddenly broke into deep hacking coughs. "I...ok..."
L'Cor got out of the couch that he was in and softly walked towards the voices. He was in a small apartment room that had certainly seen better days. The rug was tattered and there were cracks in the walls and the ceiling. The furnishings were spartan but clean.
L'Cor walked to a door that was slightly open. The voices were coming from inside. The floor creaked just before he reached the door. Before he could raise a hand to knock though, the door swung open and he stood face to face with the current reigning champion of the Tournament, Yoko Ana.
She was wearing simple clothes and not the usual hideous attire that L'Cor was used to seeing her in. Her hair was still multi-coloured but it was now combed straight. Her mouth was set in a grim line and her eyes were glaring silent accusations at him.
"Well, wanna take that holo now? Come on and get it over with!" Yoko angrily swung the door wide so that L'Cor could see inside. The room was tiny with a small dresser and a small bed. On the bed was a thin frail figure that L'Cor couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman.
"Yoko, who is that?" said the figure on the bed.
Yoko's face softened as she turned to face the figure. "No one Kasa. Try to get some rest, ok?"
Yoko stepped out of the room and gestured for L'Cor to follow. She pointed to the front door and said, "Now that you're awake, the front door's over there. Help yourself out."
L'Cor took a step towards the door and then said, "Thank you. I think you saved my life tonight."
Yoko sniffed loudly and said, "Ok, now get out."
L'Cor took another step and then turned and said, "I saved you too, you know."
"So what? You want a medal? I would've gotten free eventually and taught those 「illegitimate child」s a lesson."
Instead of feeling angry, L'Cor only felt curiosity. Why was Yoko always acting so angry? Lani and the other players had said that Yoko never partook in any of the after game parties and that she always disappeared as soon as the game was over. "Are you angry at me or just the world in general?" He kept his tone mild and as easy going as possible.
Yoko snorted and said, "You don't deserve my anger. I reserve my anger for the people who did that." Yoko gestured with her head at the room where the pale thin figure slept.
"Who is that?" asked L'Cor softly.
All of a sudden, all the anger seemed to melt away from Yoko. She sighed and sat down on the couch. She motioned to L'Cor and he sat down on the chair opposite of her.
"That is what happens when someone signs up with one of the corporate sponsors. They pamper you, treat you like a princess, and when you lose, they drop you like a hot potato. That, is the former champion of the Tournament. That, is my older sister Kasa."
L'Cor leaned back and muttered a curse. He suspected it might've been something like that but he never imagined that the person on the bed was Yoko's sister. "What happened?"
Yoko's eyes took on a faraway look as she said, "My sister is several orbits older than me. When she turned eighteen orbits, the corporate hacks at Fizzy Pop discovered that she had a talent for piloting Micks. They sponsored her and provided everything from living expenses to a brand new top of the line Mick. She climbed up the ranks in the Tournament and soon became champion. She reigned for a few orbits until she met her match...me.
I didn't go through the sponsorship route. During my sister's time as champion, I got to know a certain Ivan McMac rather well and he counselled me to stay away from the corporations. I followed his advice but I desperately wanted to be a pilot like my sister. So, Ivan leased a Mick to me at a fraction of its worth. In a few games, I earned enough credits to both pay him back and to purchase my own Mick and customize it. In less than half an orbit, the Tournament was abuzz with the possibilities. Two sisters, one title. Who would win? I didn't want to fight my sister. I was quite happy chugging along and earning my way through the Tournament. However, the hacks at Fizzy Pop cornered me. They owned Kasa's contract and could tell her who to fight and when. We didn't have a choice."
Yoko paused and got up. She left the room for a couple of minutes and then came back with two glasses of water. She handed one to L'Cor and took a long gulp from hers. "I still don't know if it was my missile that punctured Kasa's cockpit or if it was shoddy maintenance. Either way, Kasa ended up being exposed to the radiation in Old Neomar for a hellishly long time. The corporate devils at Fizzy Pop had decided that since Kasa couldn't even defeat her younger sister, then she wasn't worth retrieving in a timely manner. After she got sick, they dropped her contract and moved on to the next victim. That's all she was to them. A way to sell more of their crap to the general population. A brief moment in time. A candle in the wind."
"Is that why you keep fighting? To earn money to take care of her?"
"That and to stick it to those corporate devils by keeping the title away from their people. The problem is, as champion, I don't play as often anymore because very few people are willing to challenge me. I have a reputation for not leaving enough of my opponents' Micks to salvage."
"You're that good?" The question was asked honestly, with no hint of arrogance or rancor.
Yoko answered the question with the same respect. "Yes, I'm that good." She picked up a holo remote and pressed a button.
Across the room, a small holo screen came to life. It showed a recording of a Mick game. L'Cor became instantly fascinated as he watched. It took him a few seconds to orientate himself because of the top down view but he managed.
It wasn't hard to pick out Yoko's Baby. From what L'Cor could see, it was a hover type and it moved very very fast. He watched in silence as Yoko danced Baby through the crowded and devastated city streets, always on the hunt for more prey. She hardly bothered with OC. As soon as she spotted another Mick, she went in for the kill with guns blazing and missiles flying. L'Cor watched carefully and could tell that Baby was armed with a laser weapon, a triple tube missile launcher, a rocket propelled grenade launcher and some sort of projectile weapon that spoke in powerful single shot bursts.
Yoko was right. She was that good. In fact, the only other person that L'Cor had ever seen who could move a war machine that fluidly was his long lost brother R'Tus.
The battle quickly wound to a stop as Yoko expertly defeated all of her opponents. L'Cor whistled softly and said, "I don't think I would want to face you either."
Yoko smiled the friendliest smile that L'Cor had ever seen on her. "You're not so bad yourself newbie. I've been looking forward to facing you on the field."
L'Cor shook his head. "As much as that would be an honour, I wouldn't last five minutes against you. You remind me a lot of my younger brother. He was a natural, just like you. He could do things with his MAAC that no one else could."
"Oh? Where is he? I'd like to meet him."
"He died in the war."
Yoko fell silent as she digested this piece of information. The she said, "So, you were a soldier? A MAAC pilot?"
L'Cor nodded. "Yup. I got drafted out of high school and wound up fighting the Saxx until we finally won.
Yoko suddenly did something so unexpected that it took L'Cor completely by surprise. She got up and crossed the distance between them. She bent down and planted a kiss on L'Cor's cheek. "Thank you."
L'Cor cleared his throat and managed to say, "Um, you're welcome?"
Yoko giggled and L'Cor decided that she was actually very cute and attractive when she laughed. "Thank you for fighting the Saxx. I actually have a soft spot for war veterans. Whenever I meet one in the field, I try to disable their Micks with as little damage as possible. You, and people like you, saved our world."
"It didn't always feel like that," said L'Cor. "My brother died from friendly fire because some creeps at Intel didn't know their heads from their 「multiple dookie delivery chute」."
Yoko didn't say anything to that. Instead, she bent down again and this time, kissed L'Cor on his lips. "Thank you for saving me in the alley tonight. It was very heroic."
In spite of himself, L'Cor found himself smiling. Now that Yoko was letting her guard down, he found that he actually liked the young woman. "You're welcome. My brother would've done the exact same thing, only he wouldn't have gotten beaned on the head."
Yoko laughed and gingerly touched the bump where the bottle had hit L'Cor. "Your brother sounds like a regular knight in shining armour."
L'Cor laughed. "Yup, that he was. He was always carrying around this old book. It was left behind by our father."
Yoko's face brightened even more. "Book?" She waltzed away and came back carrying a worn and tattered book. "This book?" She perched herself on the arm of L'Cor's chair and showed it to him.
L'Cor looked at the title. It read, History of Royal Gaya. "Yup, that would be the one. Somehow, I'm not surprised that you've got one too."
Yoko cradled the book to her chest. "This was left behind by my mother. When I was young, I used to fantasize that I was Princess Gaya and that the Black Knight would come and rescue me from the slums that we lived in."
L'Cor glanced around the room. Come to think of it, the room wasn't all that much bigger than his own ratty apartment. He had thought that once he started playing and winning money that he would move into a nicer place. However, between maintaining Phantom Crash and partying, he didn't have much money or time left over. "It certainly costs a lot to maintain a Mick in top fighting condition doesn't it?"
Yoko snorted derisively. "You got that right. I spent a large fortune in outfitting Baby with a laser cannon because I thought I would save money in the long run on ammunition. Little did I know that a laser cannon needs a ton of money just to keep it properly tuned. Ivan knows about Kasa. He knows how much I'm spending in her leukemia treatments. He's offered to maintain Baby for free but I won't accept charity. However, if I don't get some games soon, I may have to start selling pieces of Baby just to keep up with Kasa's treatments."
"How about a challenge match?"
"Challenges are good, but they're generally one on one with the challenger earning more potential money. The prize money from one top-notch player is barely enough for a month supply of medicine. I need to get into a melee where there are multiple opponents and more cash potential, but the rules state that players cannot win the title from a melee game. That prevents them from ganging up on me but it also means that they can't win the title from me either. Without numbers on their side, there aren't very many players that want to face me."
L'Cor felt a very strong urge to help Yoko. Not only did he feel empathy for her plight, but she also reminded him of R'Tus very much. Like Yoko, R'Tus had a strong sense of nobility and honour that he hid away from the world. Suddenly, he had an idea. "How about a team battle? You could form a small team and offer to fight any other team up to a set number. Players would have the chance to face you with odds on their side and you would earn more prize money."
Yoko cocked her head to one side as she considered the idea. "That could work, but who would team up with me? It can't be another Class A player. No one would want to fight then."
"You could team up with me," said L'Cor. As the idea took form in his head, he began to speak more excitedly. "I'm still a newbie so I'm still a Class E right? We could bill it as Champion and Newbie versus all comers."
Yoko got off the arm of the chair and began to pace around. "I like the idea. You're not a half bad pilot and you've got tons of potential. I don't think you'd be a liability at my side."
L'Cor got up too and began to pace in the opposite direction. "I don't need much prize money myself. Just enough to keep Phantom Crash maintained. I'm not in this for the money after all."
Yoko suddenly stopped pacing and face L'Cor squarely. There was just a hint of anger and wounded pride on her face. "No. If we're going to team up then we split the prize money fairly. I don't accept charity."
L'Cor raised his hands in a placating gesture. "That's fine. If we face a team of oh let's say six, I'm pretty sure I can handle two and leave you the rest. We'll split the money based upon who we take down."
Yoko smiled brightly at the suggestion. "That puts me back into a melee scenario where I can earn more money. I like the idea very much! All we need now is a team name."
"How about The Champ and the Nube?"
Yoko shook her head and took a few steps forward until she was standing right in front of L'Cor. "Not catchy enough. How about Beauty and the Beast?"
"That's catchy but you really shouldn't call yourself the Beast!" said L'Cor with a laugh.
Yoko laughed out loud and punched L'Cor playfully on his shoulder. "Idiot!"
L'Cor rubbed the spot where Yoko punched him in mock indignation. "Owch! You pack quite a punch for a little girl!"
In response, Yoko punched him again on the other shoulder. "I'm not a little girl. I'm a hunter in search of prey!"
"A hunter eh? How about, The Stalkers?"
"The Stalkers..." Yoko rolled the name around in her mouth. "I like it. Simple yet sinister."
"It's a deal then!" L'Cor held his right hand out. Yoko took it and shook it firmly. Then she stepped and kissed L'Cor firmly on his lips.
"There, sealed with a kiss!" She bounced away and disappeared into another room.
L'Cor touched his lips with his hand. Both Yoko's attractiveness and her kisses were starting to awaken feelings in his body and emotions in his chest. He wasn't sure how he felt. Did he like Yoko in that manner? Did she like him? What did she expect from him? There was such a large gap in their ages that L'Cor really didn't know how to relate.
He was roused from his internal conflict when Yoko came back into the room. She was carrying a computer terminal. She showed him the screen and said, "Here, I've registered us as a team and put in our fighting conditions. By this time tomorrow, there'll be at least five or six other registered teams, all vying for a shot at the champion."
L'Cor reviewed Yoko's posting but could not find anything that he disagreed with. "Looks good. I better get home to get some rest. Looks like I'm going to need it. Do you by any chance have directions?"
Yoko smiled broadly. "Of course! Take the elevator down two floors and hang a right."
"What're you talking about?"
"You live in this building!"
L'Cor was stunned. "You live in the same building as me?"
"I not only live here, but I manage it too. This building is owned under Kasa's name. I generally rent out rooms to people who otherwise could not afford more expensive homes."
L'Cor chuckled softly. He'd been right about Yoko's nobility. The rents in this building were by far the cheapest. They were cheaper than even some of the other apartment buildings that were in worse shape. "Well, that makes it easier for us to get together to discuss strategy and tactics!"
"And easier for transportation too. Make sure you set your alarm early old man. We're going to see Ivan tomorrow morning."
"Why?"
"If we're going to make this partnership work, you're gonna need some serious upgrades to Phantom Crash!"
"Upgrades? I thought I had a pretty good weapon load out."
Yoko laughed. "Ok, maybe I was wrong. You're not braver than you look for riding in that piece of crap â just dumber!" Yoko's laughter and smile took the sting out of her barb.
"What do you mean piece of crap?" L'Cor tried to sound angry but he couldn't. He knew from seeing Yoko's Baby in action that he had barely scratched the surface of all the options available to a Mick.
Yoko kissed him softly on his cheek and said softly, "Just trust me."
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Post by Koalabear on Feb 27, 2019 12:56:57 GMT -5
Chapter 8 Sibling Rivalry
When L'Cor got back to his apartment, he could still feel Yoko's lips on his cheek. To turn his mind away from potentially dangerous ground, he slumped onto his tiny bed and fired up R'Tus's AV journal. Yoko's story about her sister reminded him of a similar one involving R'Tus. It had happened shortly after R'Tus joined his unit on the northern continent of Arca. R'Tus's reputation had preceded him and everyone at the base in Arca wanted to see the two brothers duke it out with simulated weapons to see just who the better pilot was. R'Tus hadn't wanted to do it, but L'Cor had to admit that he was just a bit curious to see if the stories about his brother were true. Besides, duty in Arca tended to involve long periods of tedious waiting followed by short intense combat. In the end, R'Tus had caved in to popular demand and the two brothers had squared off in the icy wastelands of Arca.
L'Cor scrolled through the AV journal entries until he found the one he was looking for. He pressed the play button, rested the journal on his chest and closed his eyes.
Start of Entry - Orbit 3012, 3rd Moon, 3rd Solar Cycle
A strange and wildly exhilarating thing happened today. I had a MAAC duel with L'Cor. In retrospect, I should have expected this but truly, it was not something that I wanted to happen. Before I shipped out here, my old crew chief, Chief Warrant Officer McMac, had warned me about letting my skills and victories go to my head. He was of course, referring to my actions in the mountain regions of Appal.
I was part of a recon quad out on patrol in the mountains. Our Wyv'en MAACs were equipped with light weaponry that emphasized mobility over power. Officially, our job was to scout the region and report any Saxx activity. Unofficially, everyone knew that recon Wyv'en MAACs were best suited for drawing out any Saxx that were hiding. Mobile bait is the term most often given to Wyv'en pilots.
My quad commander, 1st Lieutenant Womark, knew this of course, which probably explained why his patrol route did not cross over the mountain range. Any long-range weapons from our base would not be able to reach over the mountains so we would not have any fire support if we crossed.
To make a long story short, I spotted a long column of Saxx making their way through a large valley, between two large mountains. Most of the warriors in the force did not have power armour but instead wore heavy plating that covered most of their vulnerable parts. There were however, several Saxx in power armour running up and down the column. Based upon intelligence reports, we now know that the Saxx in power armour were the equivalent of our officers while the ones in unpowered armour were the grunts.
Upon seeing this force, Lieutenant Womark immediately ordered us to withdraw. I didn't think that was a good idea. Our base was about one hundred miles from here and there were a lot of valleys with good cover between the base and the mountains. If the Saxx force got out of these mountains, they would be able to travel through these valleys and be literally at the base's doorstep before any shots could be fired. Our long-range cruise missiles would be of limited use if the Saxx force dispersed and went to ground.
I argued that here, in the mountain ranges, would be the best place to engage the enemy. True, we wouldn't have the benefit of long-range artillery due to the terrain, but several well-placed MAACs with HVC's would create a massacre in the Saxx force.
While we were standing their arguing, a Saxx air recon craft nailed Lieutenant Womark with an HVC shot. I guess it really doesn't pay to paint your rank insignia on the outside of your MAAC!
Anyway, the point was now moot. We had been spotted and the Saxx force sped up their progress. I took aim with my auto cannon and shot down the air recon craft. Then I told the other two members in my quad to take cover in the high walls of the valley. I called in to the base and apprised them of the situation. Not surprisingly, they agreed with my assessment and promised some support as soon as possible. We only had to delay the force for about fifteen minutes.
We were armed with medium auto cannons and single shot missiles. I doubted that we would last for five minutes.
The single shot missiles had one advantage over other types of missile systems. Since there wasn't any need for additional ammunition, the warhead on each missile was much larger than other missile systems. The idea behind them was for a recon MAAC to carry them and use them to help cover a tactical retreat. Each of our Wyv'en's carried two on the shoulder hard points. It was enough.
Six high yield warheads caused a rockslide that conveniently divided the Saxx force. The bulk of the force was trapped on the far side while about fifty of them were on our side. That evened the odds a little bit.
What evened the odds even more was the quad of Grif'cens that flew over the mountains and touched down. I never liked the Grif'cens. Out of all the MAAC models, they were the least humanoid in appearance. The Grif'cen is a medium class MAAC, but it could only use light weaponry that is typically assigned to Wyv'ens. The reason is that most of the Grif'cen's shape and mass is dedicated to a geometry shifting system. Like the ancient legendary beast for which it is named after, the Grif'cen could fly. In its aerial mode, it could not perform like an air superiority fighter but it did well enough to allow its pilots to travel from point A to point B fast at low altitudes. Its armour also helped it to function decently as a low altitude air support vehicle.
Anyway, just this once, I was glad for their support because they brought with them the most powerful projectile weapon available to light and medium MAACs – the hyper velocity cannon.
I directed the quad to higher ground for cover and we proceeded to shoot downward at the Saxx force.
It worked for a while. I don't know about the Saxx's alien mentality but any human soldier caught in a situation like theirs would find it hard to shoot back much less hit small entrenched targets that were busy killing his comrades.
It wasn't enough though. We just couldn't kill the Saxx fast enough. There was a large number of Saxx in power armour who could shrug off two or even three hits from an HVC. I needed a way to kill them faster – especially since the Saxx that were trapped on the other side of the rockslide were slowly climbing over it.
I passed my HVC to a quadmate and pulled out my monofilament cutter. This by far was my favourite MAAC weapon. Basically, a MFC was a long bar that emitted an L-Wave beam all around it. As a melee weapon, the MFC was ideal because it could cut through most armour as if it wasn't there.
I jumped down into the valley and ignited my MFC. The eerie blue light was like a torch that drew the Saxx to me like moths to a candle.
I threw myself in the thick of things. I knew that my only chance of survival was to get as close to as many of them as possible. At that range, their weapons were next to useless because they had a much better chance of hitting each other than me.
I kept on the move and I kept swinging my MFC. There was no finesse to it as each swing almost guaranteed me a kill. The torso armour of the Saxx in power armour was too thick for even my MFC, so whenever I came upon one, I aimed for its legs. A Saxx with one or two legs missing was as good as dead.
The law of averages say that, eventually, one or more of the Saxx was going to get lucky and nail me. Luck favoured me instead that day. Before the Saxx could get their act together, reinforcements arrived in the form of a full tri-quad of heavy MAACs. They rained AROWs down upon the Saxx force and in the confusion; I was able to jump jet to safety.
I really didn't see the big deal with what I did. I was in a desperate situation and I made a desperate call. If I had more guns and more MAACs, I would've never jumped into that valley. Anyway, the brass at the base saw fit to give me a medal and award me any assignment of my choice. I think they expected me to opt for a safe cushy assignment because when I asked to be shipped off to Arca, there were many surprised reactions.
*
Ok, I see that I got a little sidetracked. I was going to record my thoughts regarding the duel between L'Cor and myself. Well for one thing, it lacked the life and death feel of true combat. We were using simulated weapons so neither of us was ever in any real danger. We had our choice of MAACs and L'Cor, true to form, chose his heavy Drac'en. I think everyone else was expecting me to choose a Drac'en too, but I didn't. I stuck with my Wyv'en. What can I say? The Wyv'en was the most humanoid of all the MAACs. In a way, it reminded me more of a giant man dressed in knightly armour than a MAAC. Of course, that wasn't the only reason.
The Wyv'en is my favourite simply because it was the only MAAC that was fast enough to keep up with my movements inside the combat harness in the cockpit. It was faster and more agile than any other MAAC. Sure it couldn't use the really big guns like the multi-barrel auto-cannon or the AROW missile system, but what it could carry was more than enough to take down a Saxx or another MAAC.
I armed my Wyv'en with an HVC and a MFC. The HVC wasn't going to be enough to take down L'Cor with one shot but if I could get close enough, my MFC would do the trick.
I knew that L'Cor would probably load up with his usual mixture of MBC, AROW, laser cannon and a rocket-propelled howitzer. He'd always believed that bigger guns equalled big victories. I was about to prove him wrong.
We started off about fifty miles apart on a flat frozen field. There wasn't going to be much cover for either of us. Maybe it was an unfair duel from the outset. I mean, who knew L'Cor better than I?
As I had predicted, L'Cor opened up with his AROWs first, hoping for an early victory. I must admit. Once an Aerial Optical-recognition Weapon had zeroed in on you, it was very difficult to evade.
Difficult, but not impossible.
As the first missile approached, I stood still and waited until it had a solid lock on me. As soon as its sub-munitions burst out, I boosted away. I zigzagged in a random pattern as the individual computerized warheads fell all around me.
Next, I knew that L'Cor would open fire with his RPH, in the hopes that splash damage would slow me down. He didn't disappoint.
For today's duel, I had outfitted my Wyv'en with shoulder foils instead of shoulder weapons. These allowed me very minimal flight capability when I used my jump jets. They were enough to get me out of the computer calculated blast zone of L'Cor's shot. While I was up in the air, I took the time to fire off a shot of my own. My computerized HVC round hit L'Cor high in his left shoulder. Because he was stationary, the computer simulator ruled that his AROW system was damaged and was now offline.
L'Cor realized his mistake and fired off another shot from his RPH before he began to move.
His shot came nowhere close to me as I closed the distance between us. He fired his laser but I blocked with my small shield. Little reactive armour pockets in the shield blew out as the computer calculated the damage.
I spared another precious second to line up another shot and let fly with another HVC round. This one hit near L'Cor's waist and it drastically slowed down his already slow MAAC.
In return, he fired his MBC and shredded my small shield. I didn't care. I threw the shield away, transferred my HVC to my left hand and drew my monofilament cutter. In normal fighting conditions, the L-Wave engine in the MFC would generate a wave of ultra compressed laser light that was so tight that the leading edge was just over one molecule wide. For this duel though, my MFC was just a handle and the computer threw up a blue hologram to simulate an L-Wave beam.
I think it was at this point that L'Cor finally realized the danger that he was in. I had taken out his long-range weapons by destroying one and rendering the other one effectively useless by closing the distance. Then I had had destroyed his mobility and in doing so, had limited his ability to track me properly with his remaining weapons.
I threw down my HVC and went in for the kill. L'Cor did his best. He rotated his waist and brought his right arm up. My heads up display showed me a line of computer-generated tracers as I hunched down to dodge the attack.
My fake MFC drew a beautiful line in the air as the fake beam ripped up under L'Cor's right arm and through his torso.
L'Cor's Drac'en froze as his computer shut it down. The duel was over and I had won with no damage to my Wyv'en. My chronometer display showed that less than five minutes had elapsed from the start of the duel.
Later, I got a lot of congratulatory slaps on the back for my performance. I don't think anyone thought I had a chance of winning. My victory gave me a lot of respect from many of the younger pilots. It even filled up my nightly social calendar as many of the female admin staff that had watched the duel suddenly found me very attractive indeed. I accepted as many of the proposals as I thought my body could handle. My physical needs were now taken care of, but my emotional ones remained unrequited. Ever since Cinda, I had not allowed anyone to come close to me so my heart still belonged to a certain princess in a somewhat fictitious book.
L'Cor didn't say much to me beyond quietly congratulating me on my victory. I wonder, was he angry with me? Did I make him look like a fool in front of everyone? I'm too scared to ask, but deep inside, I hope that he is proud of the man I have become.
End of Entry
When the entry wound down, the AV journal waited patiently for further input. When it received none, it waited for a few more minutes before shutting down. As the hologram of R'Tus's face disappeared, the small apartment was thrown into darkness. The only light came from the journal's standby button and the only sound in the room was the quiet droning buzz of L'Cor's snores.
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Post by Koalabear on Feb 28, 2019 10:11:31 GMT -5
Chapter 9 Upgrades
L'Cor was rudely awakened the next morning when Yoko flounced into his room. She had used her master key to let herself in. She was dressed in her usual trashy attire and she acted as if she didn't give a dagnag. In short, she was back to her usual self.
She stood over L'Cor's head and her loose shirt flared out at the bottom, giving L'Cor a classic up-the-shirt view. Yoko's pink bra covered a pair of surprisingly well-rounded breasts.
"What're you waiting for sleepyhead?!" exclaimed Yoko. "The taxicab is downstairs. Come on, we've got to go!"
L'Cor pretended to keep his eyes closed for a couple more seconds and then said, "Shhh. I don't have a holo camera so I'm trying to preserve a memory. Pink looks very good on you."
Yoko glanced down and blushed deep red. She drew back in a hurry and pulled her shirt shut. Then, she got a devilish gleam in her eyes. "It was too dark last night so you probably missed it."
L'Cor slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Missed what?"
"This!" Yoko grabbed the bottom of her shirt and pulled upwards. Along the way, she managed to grab the bottom of her bra as well.
L'Cor's mind instantly snapped awake as he saw Yoko's beautiful breasts. It had been a very long time since he'd been with a woman and his body reacted accordingly. He felt slightly disappointed when Yoko covered herself up a moment later. "Hadis! What a way to wake up!"
Yoko chuckled and then sniffed the air. "Ew, you better take a shower, before we leave. The taxicab can wait." She took a good look around and wrinkled her nose. "Doncha ever clean up in here?"
L'Cor glanced around his messy apartment. "It's the maid's week off," he said. He got up off his bed and made his way into his bathroom. Inside, he stripped off his clothes, stepped into the shower, and turned the shower up to full blast. As the washed himself, he thought he heard the door open, but he could not see anything beyond the fog generated by his shower.
When he was done, he opened his shower door to find that all of his towels were missing. Even his dirty clothes on the floor were gone. Someone had come in! He shook his head bemusedly and chuckled. If that was the game that Yoko wanted to play, then so be it! His time in the military had long burned away any shyness he might have felt about nakedness.
He whistled a tuneless tune as he stepped out of the bathroom. Yoko was sitting on his bed with an expectant look on her face. She whistled through her fingers as L'Cor playfully posed for her. "Can I at least have a towel to dry off?"
In response, Yoko threw him a small face cloth. L'Cor caught it, and then shrugged. He proceeded to wipe himself down as he made his way to his dresser. He was acting as casual as possible but his mind was racing at ways in which he could get back at Yoko. The only problem was, all of the scenarios running through his head involved getting Yoko naked and in bed.
Yoko screamed in glee at L'Cor's physical reaction. "You naughty old man, what's going on through that gutter that you call a brain?"
"Keep this up and you'll find just how not-old I am!" L'Cor smiled broadly. He had to admit that he was enjoying this flirtatious activity. He pulled some clothes out of his dresser drawer and got dressed amidst booing noises from Yoko.
As they left his apartment, L'Cor asked a question that had been plaguing him. "Why do you dress up like that?"
"Like what?" asked Yoko innocently, "Like a 「strong independent woman who don't need no man」?"
"Yeah."
"How do you know I'm not?"
L'Cor snorted derisively. "You don't have the temperament. A 「strong independent woman who don't need no man」 wouldn't blush because a dirty old man had sneaked a peek under her shirt."
They shared a laugh and then Yoko said, "I find that it tends to make men underestimate me. If they're busy thinking of my body out in the field, it makes my job that much easier."
That made a lot of sense to L'Cor. Yoko's current attire was definitely hard to forget. She dressed in such a way as to show nothing of her body's naughty bits, but left a lot for the imagination.
They got into the taxicab and Yoko ordered it to take them to a drive through restaurant first. They ordered their meal and ate in the cab. By the time the cab pulled up outside of Ivan McMac's shop, they had finished their breakfast and threw the paper wrappers into the taxicab's disposal bin.
They walked into the shop together and Yoko linked her arm with L'Cor's. Ivan greeted them with a smile and an arched eyebrow. "Good morning Yoko. Good morning L'Cor."
"Good morning Ivan!" said Yoko brightly.
"What can I do for you guys today?" asked Ivan.
"L'Cor has agreed to team up with me. If he's going to play in the big leagues, he's gonna need some major upgrades to his Mick."
Ivan gave L'Cor a questioning look. "A partnership eh? Is he good enough to keep up with you?"
L'Cor was about to say something but Yoko beat him to it. "I've seen him fight. He's pretty good. He just needs some better equipment."
L'Cor felt something like pride inside of himself because Yoko was standing up for him. A part of him was surprised at how easy it was to get along with Yoko ever since she let down her guard last night. The other part of him was just going along with the flow because he really enjoyed being with her. "Actually the plan is to use me as bait and for Yoko blow up the other guys before I kick it."
That got a laugh out of both Ivan and Yoko. Ivan angled his head towards the back door. "Head on in Yoko. I want to speak with L'Cor for a couple of minutes."
Yoko surprised L'Cor by giving him a shy smile and then obediently followed Ivan's instructions. It was obvious to L'Cor that the relationship between Yoko and Ivan was more than the usual mechanic/player one.
Ivan confirmed this when he said, "You know, Yoko is almost like a daughter to me. If you're teaming up with her as a way to take advantage of that girl â"
"I'm not," said L'Cor abruptly with a raised hand. "She reminds me a lot of my brother."
"Brother?"
"Yeah, I think you knew him in the war. R'Tus Penrag'n"
Ivan's face brightened up immediately. "Of course, I knew there was something familiar about you! That boy had the most potential of any pilot I ever had the honour of being a crew chief for. How is he anyway?"
"He died," said L'Cor quietly. "About six orbits ago. It was from friendly fire."
Ivan's face fell and he looked as if he had suddenly aged. "Oh frak it! I knew no Saxx could ever do it in for that boy. He was a natural. I didn't hear anything. I guess the brass hushed it up?"
"Yeah. They didn't want it generally known that their best ace was nuked by his own people.
"How did it happen?"
"The usual frak up," said L'Cor with a bitter tone. "Satellite images had picked up unusually high Saxx activity but because of the terrain, they couldn't confirm the presence of a hive. When R'Tus's quad discovered it and called it in, someone at HQ panicked and fired off a thermo-nuke before we could get everyone to minimum safe distance. R'Tus had some damage to his jump jets so he couldn't boost out of there fast enough. He decided to hold rear guard and make sure that no Saxx followed us out of the area as we retreated."
Ivan sighed, a deep sad sigh. "A hero to the end." Ivan shook himself visibly and then said, "Well come with me. Yoko was right. If you're gonna team up with her and fight in the big leagues, you're going to need better equipment."
L'Cor followed Ivan to through the back door and said, "How much is this all going to cost me? I haven't spent much of my prize money yet but I've sent a fair bit back to my sister Q'Wen."
"Don't worry about that for now. There are a lot of poor and destitute people in that apartment building that Yoko manages. My helping her ends up helping a lot of other people too."
"Like Yoko's sister Kasa?"
"Yes," said Ivan in a sad tone. "She was seduced by those corporate 「illegitimate child」s with their promises of riches and fame. Well she got her five minutes of fame, but the riches all turned to dust."
They made their way to the central computer where Ivan had originally configure Phantom Crash. Yoko was already there. She had an image of Phantom Crash on the holoscreen. L'Cor could see that she had already stripped out all of its weapons.
"You have a rather bad habit of holding down your triggers too long. In an extended fight like the ones we'll have, you'll run out of ammo long before anyone else," said Yoko without any preamble.
L'Cor held his tongue. He didn't like to be criticized by a half pint of a woman but he reminded himself that this small woman was the current reigning champion and if she were in a MAAC would have given R'Tus a run for his money.
Yoko manipulated the computer like a pro as she dragged an icon onto Phantom Crash's frame. "This Gatling gun is the closest thing to a MBC for a Mick. The damage per shot isn't that great, but the volume of fire this baby can dish out is amazing. Plus, you'll have more than enough ammo to keep your trigger finger happy."
The weapon system looked huge and he looked at the display half expecting the computer to warn him that Phantom Crash was overweight. Instead, he was surprised to find that Phantom Crash was nowhere near its weight limit yet.
"The best thing that Ivan did for you was to give you a pair of really decent legs."
L'Cor remembered how much those legs had cost and now he was glad he had gotten them. "What about the torso piece?"
Yoko snapped a bubble from a piece of gum that L'Cor didn't know she had. "It's not bad," she said thoughtfully. "But, most of the opponents you'll be facing have advanced targeting computers. That means that all of their missiles will lock on at the same time."
"That's bad?"
Ivan cleared his throat and said, "Think of an AROW system for medium range."
"Ah," said L'Cor simply.
Yoko pulled another icon onto Phantom Crash's frame. "The shot cannon is a really useless weapon. At the ranges where it becomes effective, a Mick with a melee weapon would toast you before you could lock on. This rocket propelled drill arm will do the trick."
"What's that?" asked L'Cor.
"The concept of the rocket propelled drill arm was taken from the construction industry," explained Ivan. "Basically, you take a hardened tungsten drill with a diamond head and you attach it to a small rocket. Then you link the fire control to your Mick's jump jets and you've got a melee weapon that can take out even the heaviest armour in one blow."
"Cool."
Yoko pulled two more icons onto Phantom Crash. "A rocket propelled grenade has better range and better targeting abilities than the old spring-fire versions. And, last but not least, a dual tube missile launcher with an advanced targeting computer means that you can still fire two missiles at once."
"Ahmâ¦Yoko, I don't want to sound ungrateful, but aren't we taking too much advantage of Ivan here?"
Yoko turned to look at him. The smile that she gave him made him feel as if he had just won a prize.
"Actually, these are weapons that I used to use before I could afford my current weapons on Baby. I'm a bit of a collector and I never traded them back to Ivan. As my partner, I'm loaning them to you. Put them to good use, ok?"
"Ok!"
"Now, as for the items that we'll have to lease from Ivanâ¦let's seeâ¦" Yoko pulled the rollers off from Phantom Crash's legs and dragged another pair on icons onto its frame. "The legs that Ivan gave you actually have optional hover attachments. That means that if you use the hover jets in conjunction with your jump jets, you can have the same kind of mobility as a true hover platform. Also, if you ground yourself to use your OC and need to suddenly move, you don't have to wait until your hover jets fire up. You can just run on your regular feet."
A curious thought occurred to L'Cor and he asked, "Baby is a traditional hover type right? How do you overcome the OC issue? The blow back from the hover jets would blow the OC covering off right?"
"I have my OC built into Baby's armour. I usually don't take enough hits to totally disable it."
L'Cor whistled softly in appreciation of Yoko's skill. He looked at the computer as it tallied up the weapons and calculated Phantom Crash's specifications. Due to the added weapons Phantom Crash now had an even lower top running speed and its acceleration was lower too. However, these specs were offset by the ability to hover. "You also put an extra inch of armour plating?"
Yoko rolled her eyes as if this were a basic question. "Everyone takes hits. You're gonna need the extra plating. In the melee matches that we'll be in, I don't think even I will be able to remain untouched for long. When my OC fails, our roles will shift. I'll become the bait while you become the silent hunter."
"I'll do my best to protect you," said L'Cor seriously.
"I know you will," said Yoko brightly and then she blew him a kiss.
Ivan McMac watched the interplay between L'Cor and Yoko and smiled a broad proud smile.
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Post by Koalabear on Mar 12, 2019 8:53:12 GMT -5
Chapter 10 A Taste of Leadership
After Yoko finished customizing Phantom Crash for L'Cor, Ivan promised them that the modifications would take less than a week. That was a good thing because when Yoko checked the Tournament Bulletin, the forums were awash with the news of the new partnership. As she had predicted, many of the players were already starting to form alliances. A melee battle with the champion was not worth it for players because there was no way they could trust the other players enough to coordinate an attack on Yoko. However, when you formed a team, then it became a team battle and coordination of tactics became possible.
Yoko and L'Cor went back to their apartment building to discus tactics and strategy. L'Cor had wanted to go to practise on the simulators but Yoko and waved that suggestion away. She didn't want to give away any secrets to the spectators. Besides, she wanted to be close to Kasa in case her older sister needed anything.
Back in Yoko's room, she quickly changed out of her trashy clothes and into something much more comfortable and concealing. L'Cor didn't know whether to feel relieved or disappointed. At least he would be able to get his mind out of the gutter at least temporarily!
They discussed various different scenarios and L'Cor was pleasantly surprised to find that Yoko had an amazing intuitive grasp of military tactics. R'Tus had been like that too. R'Tus had a knack for feeling the ebb and flow of a battle and he instinctively knew when a battle would shift.
Yoko noticed his distraction and said, "Hellooo! Gaya to L'Cor! What're you thinking of?"
L'Cor grinned. "Sorry, you remind me so much of my brother sometimes."
"I should hope not!" said Yoko with an impish grin. "I have at least two attributes that he doesn't have!" She emphasized her remark by cupping her breasts and jutting them in L'Cor's direction.
L'Cor laughed out loud. "Dagnag-it woman. Put those weapons away! I'd finally gotten them out of my head when you put on that sweat top!"
"Aww, poor baby; Miss them already? Here, why don't I show them to you again?" Yoko dropped her hands to the bottom of her sweat top.
"No! That's ok!" said L'Cor quickly.
Yoko pouted. "Spoil sport!"
Desperate to change the subject, L'Cor pulled out the AV journal and turned it on. "Here, he said, why don't I introduce you to my brother?" He turned it on and a holo of R'Tus appeared.
Yoko peered at the image and said, "That's your brother?" She sniffed. "I like my men to have a little bit more meat on them. Yup, big and dumb…that's how I like ‘em."
"My brother had a sixth degree platinum sash before he died," said L'Cor a little testily. "Not only that, in a simulated duel, he took me down in less than five minutes with a light MAAC while I was armed to the teeth in a heavy."
Yoko raised both hands, "Chill out big man! I was only joking!"
"Sorry," said L'Cor contritely. "I miss my brother so much. I was so proud that day when he beat me in the duel. I just wish I had told him how I felt."
Yoko reached out and touched L'Cor's hand. "I'm sorry too. I'm lucky in that at least my sister is still around and I still have a chance in saving her."
L'Cor said nothing but lifted Yoko's hand to his lips and kissed it. He had meant it as a form of apology but was surprised when Yoko's face flushed deep red. His eyes met hers in a long caressing stare that neither seemed willing to break.
A cough from Kasa's room broke the moment as Yoko dashed into her sister's room. L'Cor scrolled through the AV journal in a furious attempt to mask his feelings. What was going on with him? He barely knew this woman but the feelings that were stirring in his chest were growing stronger by the minute.
When Yoko came back a few minutes later, L'Cor stopped on an entry at random and hit the play button. Without a word of what had transpired between them, they both settled down and watched R'Tus speak.
Start of Entry – Orbit 3016, 5th Moon, 12th Solar Cycle
A couple of moons ago, they gave me command of my own quad. I had the option of taking over a quad of medium class MAACs but I opted to stay with my Wyv'en. Not only did I still prefer the Wyv'en to anything else, but also the new recruits that got sent to the front line were closer to my age anyway. It's too bad that they treat me with a certain level of respect and awe. I wish they wouldn't. I'm just doing my part in fighting this war.
The Saxx were alien to humans in almost everyway. They were huge for starters, but their civilization was alien to us too. They were almost like insects in their dedication to building hives, but we also know that unlike insects, each individual Saxx thought and acted like an individual. Still, I sometimes felt like I got along better with them than with my own kind. With the Saxx, it was kill or be killed. With humans, I always got the sense that I didn't quite fit in. There was also the sense that they wanted something from me. Even the ladies with whom I shared some recreational time with wanted only one thing: the chance to brag to the other women that they had scored with The Whiz Kid. That was their nickname for me.
Anyway, I today, I took my quad out on some training exercises. Our battalion had been transferred from the frozen wastelands of Arca to the desert wastelands of Mohabee. We went from one temperate extreme to another and I wanted my quad to get used to their new fighting environment.
My quad consisted of 2nd Lieutenants Liselle Tenshen, Jensen Darril and Rosba Ama. Their skills were typical of the current generation of graduates from MAAC Basic, that is to say, not bad but with a few bad habits. For example, Liselle had a habit of running when she should be jumping or boosting, Jensen tended to ride his jump jets too much, and Rosba couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with her targeting computer activated.
I halted our march and called out on my S-Wave communicator. "Alright, listen up. Fire up your computer simulators. We're going to simulate combat!"
There were groans from Jensen and Rosba but Liselle seemed excited. "Are we going to chase after you sir?"
I liked Liselle. If she could get over her fear of jumping, she would make an amazing pilot. She had great legs to boot too. In her neural suit, they sometimes seemed to go on forever. Too bad she was part of my quad! Besides, I knew L'Cor had his eye on her and was just waiting for her to prove herself before making a move. "Not today Lis. Today, Jensen and Rosba are going to chase after you."
"Me?"
"Yup. We're going to overcome your fear of jumping. You're gonna need to use your jump jets if you want to get away from Jensen and Rosba here."
"Alright!" exclaimed Jensen. "Hey Lis, if I tag you, will you sleep with me?"
Liselle and Rosba shouted into their communicators at the same time.
"Not on your life!"
"Hey what's wrong with me?"
Jensen's MAAC rotated its head unit between the two women. "Sorry, but variety is the spice of life!"
Both Liselle and Rosba reached out and punched Jensen. His Wyv'en promptly fell on its backside amidst laughter from the women. The two women then ‘high fived' with their MAACs.
I keyed my communicator and tried to sound serious, "Can the chit chat folks. All right, here's the plan. Program your simulated weapons load out with HVCs"
There was a chorus of "Awwws."
"Enough!" I growled. I had to key off my communicator for a couple of seconds so that I could laugh in private. Not many people liked the HVC. Despite its destructive potential, it had a slow firing rate and in a fast moving game of ‘tag', it was dreadfully hard to use. "All of you need more practise with this weapon. Especially you Rosba! You still spray your fire too much. In an extended battle or recon mission, you'll run out of ammo too fast! And Jensen, watch those jump jets. If you stay in the air too long, Lis is going to pin you like a fly on a wall. Now go!"
Liselle took off like a flash as if she were waiting for my order. It took Jensen and Rosba a few precious seconds to react. By then, Liselle was almost a mile away. She was taking my criticism to heart and she was boosting for all she was worth.
Jensen and Rosba both boosted after her and Liselle surprised them by suddenly turning and firing. They both got tagged.
"Jensen! Rosba! Just because you're chasing Lis doesn't mean that she won't fire back at you!"
Jensen hit his jump jets for a vertical jump and Lis promptly hit him with another shot. "Jensen! Don't be so predictable!"
Rosba was shooting as she moved and my computer display showed me that she had already run through an entire magazine. "Rosba! Lead your target! Don't aim for where Lis is, but aim for where she will be!"
"Why can't I use a laser? I usually do much better with a laser!"
"Use your head Rosba! We're out in the desert. A laser would overheat much too quickly!"
"Oh."
Liselle hit Jensen once more while he was in the air. I sighed but I didn't chew him out this time. Liselle was doing fine in teaching him a well-deserved lesson. While Liselle was preoccupied with Jensen though, I watched as Rosba took on a kneeling position and aimed carefully. This time, she managed to hit Liselle with a well-timed shot.
"Good shot Rosba! Now, do it again!"
"Thank you sir;" she twisted her torso as she tried to follow Liselle's movements.
Liselle took advantage of Rosba's stationary status by hitting her with a simulated shot. "I meant while moving!" My voice was starting to feel a little hoarse. What did it take for these kids to learn?
"Sorry sir!"
Eventually, I called a halt to the exercise. I had them form a semi circle around me and we all exited our MAACs. They were all sweating from both the heat and their exertions. Jensen did finally manage to tag Liselle once and Rosba had hit her twice. Liselle on the other hand had hit them both at least five or six times.
Jensen was leering openly at both Liselle and Rosba while I did my best to keep my eyes on level with theirs. I didn't think it was professional to have sex with anyone directly under my command. My lesson from both Cinda and Micah had stuck to me. I couldn't put myself in a position where my personal feelings would get in the way of my leadership decisions.
I started drawing in the sand as I lectured. "Jensen, you and Rosba made one crucial mistake. You did not communicate with each other. You both started the exercise with the mindset that it was a competition between you and that prevented you from working as a team. Take that lesson to heart. In an outnumbered situation, the advantage actually goes to the one working alone if his opponents are working as individuals rather than a team. The Saxx have amazing teamwork capabilities. Somehow, and we don't know how, they often move as one complete unit. Take out the officers though, and the regular warrior class lose that smooth integration.
Jensen, you're doing better with the jump jets. Just remember that while you're in the air, you're one big fat target. Lis, you have the opposite problem but at least you've improved dramatically. Rosba, you're starting to get a feel for the HVC. Don't depend on your targeting computer too much. Remember, when leading your target; don't depend on that little pip provided by your computer. That's just the computer's estimate of where your target will be. Use your intuition more than your computer's AI."
I directed their attention to the drawing I made in the sand. "Jensen and Rosba, this is what you should have done. You should have synchronized your movements so that either one of your would always have Lis in your field of fire. Don't let her get directly between you two though. That would only put you in each other's field of fire."
I lectured some more and I saw some understanding come to their faces. As always, Liselle seemed to be slightly ahead of the other two. "When facing Saxx, we're usually outnumbered anyway right? Won't there always be a Saxx in our field of fire?"
"Yes, but remember, always try to go after the officers in power armour first. Once they die, the grunts' teamwork will go to Hadis."
Jensen was nodding his head as he said, "This is all starting to make sense now sir. But maybe a little demonstration would be in order?" There was just the tiniest hint of a challenge in his voice.
Liselle looked up expectantly and even Rosba looked eager at the prospect. I grinned at them. I knew that I had nothing to prove to them, but it would be good practise for all of us. "Alright, get in your MAACs. This time, program your choice of weapons."
There was a chorus of "Yayys!" as they dashed up the ladders and into their cockpits. When I got into mine, I programmed my computer simulator for an HVC and a MFC. I saw that Liselle had stuck with her HVC and added on a quad tube missile launcher. Jensen had traded in his HVC for a pair of medium auto-cannons while Rosba loaded up with lasers. I shook my head at that last one. Some people just have to learn the hard way!
Jensen didn't wait for me to give the command to start. He immediately started to target me. I didn't mind. I sidestepped and gave him a slice with my MFC. I heard him curse as his Wyv'en shut down. I used his inert MAAC as cover and kept it between myself and the other two. Both Liselle and Rosba ended up hitting Jensen multiple times. Jensen cursed at every hit because it kept resetting his computer.
I suddenly boosted away backwards and I nailed both Liselle and Rosba with my HVC. I keyed my communicator and yelled, "Synchronize your attack. Work as a team!"
I have to admit. I worked them hard. I danced and I boosted and I jumped in seemingly random patterns. I wasn't surprised when Liselle took charge. She ordered Jensen and Rosba to fan out and attempt to flank me. I knew what she was going for and I eventually let myself get trapped by them inside their triangle. In this formation, they all had me in their field of fire and there was little danger of them hitting each other. As they closed in for the kill though, I suddenly charged the weak link. Rosba's simulated lasers had overheated and she couldn't use them anymore. I gave her Wyv'en a little tap with my MFC as I boosted past. That small fraction of a moment was enough for one of Liselle's missiles to hit me.
I called a halt to the exercise and ordered them all back to the base. As we marched, Liselle called me on a private line.
"Does this mean I get to sleep with you now?"
It took me a moment to understand her reference. I gave her expectant expression a small smile. "Sorry Lis. I don't mix business with pleasure. While you're part of my quad, our relationship will have to remain a professional one."
She looked a little disappointed but smiled back at me. "Too bad. You don't know what you're missing!"
I chuckled. "Lis, you're a great pilot and you have excellent potential. When you get transferred out of my quad, it would be my honour and pleasure to take you up on your offer. In the meantime though, I understand that my brother is available."
She wrinkled her nose. "He's not my type." She sighed theatrically. "Oh well, it's just me and my toys tonight!"
She signed off before I could respond. I tried to wipe the image of Lis naked and in bed out of my mind. Dagnag-it! Why did she have to be so pretty?
Rosba called me a little later with a similar offer and I turned her down too. She didn't seem that surprised though. I wonder what the women were talking about during their private chats.
To be honest, ever since we arrived at this new base, I haven't tried very hard to find new playmates. Lately, my dreams of Princess Gaya and the Black Knight were getting more and more intense. It had gotten to the point where I would turn in early just so that I would be free to dream of them and their adventures together.
Speaking of which, it's about that time for me to turn in now. Signing off!
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Post by Koalabear on Mar 13, 2019 14:00:28 GMT -5
Posting Chapter 11 and 12 together...
Chapter 11 An Unexpected Twist
A week after their announced team, L'Cor and Yoko were stalking through the ruins of Old Neomar, hunting for their prey. They had spent most of the week going through various strategies and plans. Because other players could monitor their communications, they came up with a complex series of coded phrases that would mean nothing to anyone else.
The last couple of days had been spent on Ivan's property where L'Cor practised some manoeuvres in his freshly modified Phantom Crash. He had to admit that he really liked the Gatling gun. Not only did it have an unholy amount of ammunition, but also the way that Phantom Crash vibrated every time he used it sent soothing shivers through the cockpit. The only downside was that the damage per shot was actually less than his old rapid fire cannon. The rocket propelled drill arm had truly amazing damage potential. He would have to be careful when he used it. As for the rocket propelled grenade launcher, he was still a little dubious as to its effectiveness. Its damage potential was greater than the spring fire versions because of its ability to target other Micks, but the blast radius and explosive content was less. Of all of his new weapons, the dual tube missile launcher was his favourite. When paired up with his advanced targeting computer, both missiles could lock on at the same time to either one or two targets. For today's game though, he kept the fire control synchronized and he had staggered the ammunition with armour piercing and high explosive.
At the moment, L'Cor and Yoko were playing through Battle Tactical Plan A. This was a complex name for saying that L'Cor was the bait. He stomped down a deserted street until he reached an intersection. He paused for a bit and then turned left and stomped down another street. To a casual observer, it would seem as if he were walking around randomly and aimlessly. However, Yoko had carefully picked out his route. She was waiting patiently under OC on one of the tallest remaining towers in this district of Old Neomar.
A red blip appeared on his scanner and he smiled grimly. The plan was for him to head directly for any opponents that appeared and to have Yoko retain the high ground and search for the rest of the opposing team. It was up to Yoko to see how their opponents' teamwork was before she joined the battle and racked up her wins.
L'Cor changed his course until he was heading for the red blip. His communicator chimed and a face appeared on the screen. It was Boran, a pilot on the opposing team. The transmission was coming through on the all wave band.
"This is Boran of Angel's Kiss to all Micks pilots playing in Old Neomar. All Micks, drop under OC now! There's something weird going on."
L'Cor frowned. What was Boran talking about? Sending out a transmission on the all wave band was unheard of. The transmission went to all Micks currently playing in the entire city not just to the area where L'Cor's game was being played. Still, Boran was known to be a cautious and serious player. L'Cor keyed his communicator and said, "What's up Boran?"
Boran looked somewhat relieved and said, "L'Cor? Something took a pot shot at me just now and it wasn't a Mick."
"What do you mean it wasn't a Mick? Are you sure it wasn't someone on your team?"
"Of course it wasn't!" Boran looked a little exasperated and confused. "It was big. Bigger than any Mick and it didn't have a humanoid profile."
A shiver rippled through L'Cor's body. A Saxx! It had to be a Saxx. What the frak was it doing here? All of the Saxx had been wiped from the surface of Gaya during the closing days of the war!
"What did it look like Boran? Did it have three legs?" The red blip that L'Cor was heading was standing still and L'Cor was getting closer to it. What would he find when he reached it? A Mick or a Saxx? If it was a Saxx, then he was in serious trouble. He doubted that any of the weapons he had on Phantom Crash could bring down a Saxx in power armour.
On L'Cor's communicator screen, Boran shook his head vigorously. "No, it didn't. It stood on two legs."
That froze L'Cor in his tracks. He halted Phantom Crash as he digested this new piece of information. The red blip on his scanner was on the other side of a row of low buildings. Before he could jump to take a look though, the red blip moved.
Phantom Crash's external microphones picked up a low rumbling sound. L'Cor knew that sound to be that of jump jets on a large mechanical vehicle. But what kind was it?
The answer came soon enough. A large vaguely human shaped figure rose above the buildings. L'Cor stared dumbfounded not because he didn't recognize the shape, but because he never thought to see a MAAC in Old Neomar.
A whisper in the back of his mind pushed him into action. He fired his jump jets in reverse and scooted backwards. A large missile hit the spot that he had just vacated. The explosion rocked Phantom Crash but did nothing to alter its course.
The unknown MAAC touched down and then did something extraordinary. First it bent at the waist and knelt down on hands and knees. As its palms touched the ground, large thrusters at its shoulders pivoted and fired downwards. The mysterious MAAC hovered as the rest of its body completed its reconfiguration. Large aerofoils deployed to either side as it began to thrust forward.
L'Cor reached an intersection and then spun Phantom Crash around in a smooth 90-degree turn and zipped down another street. His mind was still trying to struggle with what he had seen. A Grif'cen! What was a medium class Grif'cen MAAC doing in Old Neomar? And what in Hadis' stinking armpit was its pilot doing? Why was he or she firing upon civilians engaged in a Tournament game?
L'Cor made another turn at another intersection as he looked around for a good spot to hide and engage his OC. A missile detonated to his left and he flinched as the explosion shook Phantom Crash. He had gotten used to the smaller weapons that Micks were equipped with. A MAAC could field much larger guns, missiles and lasers that made Mick sized weapons seem like toys. L'Cor punched some keys and his secondary monitor showed him a view to the rear. The Grif'cen was keeping pace with Phantom Crash at an altitude that was just above the building level. That was pretty close to the ground and any slightest misjudgement on the part of its pilot would bring the MAAC crashing to the ground.
Suddenly, the left side of the Grif'cen flared with multiple explosions. L'Cor had just enough time to see a line of coherent light before the Grif'cen smashed into a row of buildings.
"L'Cor! Are you alright?" Yoko's face appeared on L'Cor's communicator screen. She looked worried.
"I'm fine Yoko. Get back under OC! You're not equipped to take on a MAAC!"
"I'm still under OC. My OC is built into my armour remember? I can fire while it's engaged. What's going on? Who was that?"
"I have no idea and this is not the time to worry about that. Get on the move! There's at least one more Grif'cen out there judging from Boran's description. It can trace your laser blast back to you."
"Good point! I'm leaving AHHH!" Yoko's face disappeared from L'Cor's screen.
"Yoko!" L'Cor changed course and headed for Yoko's hiding place. "I'm coming Yoko! Hang on!"
Boran's image appeared on L'Cor's screen. "I'm on my way too my friend!"
"Be careful Boran! MAAC's pack heavier weapons than Micks!"
"I know that L'Cor. I've already tasted their fire."
L'Cor stared at Boran's face and noticed several lines of blood dripping down his face. He rounded a corner and was presented with a hideous sight.
Yoko's Baby was lying on its side. Standing above it was another Grif'cen MAAC presumably the one that had engaged Boran before. It was pointing an HVC at Yoko's prone Mick.
L'Cor aimed all of his weapons at the MAAC and was about to fire when a heavily damaged Mick raced down the street on damaged hover jets and slammed into the Grif'cen. Both the Mick and the MAAC crashed down into a tangle of twisted metal.
L'Cor rushed forward but he was too far and too late. The Grif'cen managed to get back onto its feet and pulled a short monofilament cutter from the weapon slot on its waist. Boran's Mick was lying on its side and wasn't moving. The Grif'cen plunged the MFC down into the cockpit module of Angel's Kiss.
"NOOO!" L'Cor fired his weapons at the Grif'cen. The Gatling gun that was so effective against Micks merely tickled the MAAC's armour. The RPG managed to get the pilot's attention so that when both of L'Cor's missiles hit it, the pilot was just straightening up and they impacted right on it's chest armour, directly above where the cockpit was.
L'Cor hit his jump jets and ignited his rocket-propelled drill. The engine on the arm weapon gave Phantom Crash extra speed and momentum as the drill hit the Grif'cen right on the chest where the missiles had impacted moments earlier.
Sparks flew as the drill arm pierced the chest armour and into the cockpit underneath. L'Cor imagined that he could hear the pilot scream before he or she died.
L'Cor grounded Phantom Crash and called out to Yoko. There was no response. He popped open his cockpit and quick undid his safety restraints. The air outside was hot and humid as he jumped down and ran to Baby.
Once there, he touched the control panel beside the cockpit hatch and prayed that the manual override was still working. He breathed a sigh of relief as the hatch opened with a hiss and a mechanical whine.
Inside, Yoko was still strapped and there was blood on her face. L'Cor couldn't see any other signs of hurt as he undid Yoko's straps. Her eyes opened and L'Cor whispered a silent âthank you' before he kissed her forehead.
"My knight comes to my rescue once again," said Yoko in a voice that was tinged with pain.
"Hushâ¦" said L'Cor as reassuringly as possible. "I've got to get you out of here." He picked Yoko up and marvelled at how small and helpless she seemed.
He carried her over to Phantom Crash and got in. It was a tight fit and he wasn't able to do up his safety straps, but Yoko was able to sit on his lap and lean back into his chest. Just as he closed the hatch, his communicator screen came on. This time, it was Ivan.
Ivan's face appeared scared and worried. The worried part of the expression eased when he saw both L'Cor and Yoko. "Oh good, she's with you. Is she ok?"
"I think so," said L'Cor. "She's got a cut on the side of her head but that's about it from what I can see. I still want to get her back to New Neomar asap to get her checked out."
"No! You can't do that!"
"Why not!"
Ivan heaved a sigh and said with great seriousness. "Everything's gone to Hadis back here. About two hours ago, City Hall was attacked by a bunch of mysterious MAACs. The mayor's dead and so is half of the City Counsel. The Hinton Embassy hotel was attacked too as well as most of the major Mick manufacturing companies.
L'Cor frowned at the news. "What about the police and the militia?"
"The militia were only armed with Micks. They didn't stand a chance. The MAAC force wiped them out within minutes."
"Does anyone know anything about them?"
"Not much. There are no Royal Gayan Armed Forces insignias on any of the MAAC's. Just a black skull."
L'Cor pondered that for a bit. He'd never heard of any unit that used a black skull. Yoko stirred in his arms and he turned his attention to her. "Are you ok?"
She half turned and gave him weak smile. "My head is killing me but otherwise, I think I'm fine. Ivan, what about Kasa?"
Ivan smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. Jan left a few minutes ago for your apartment. She'll be in good hands."
"Your son?" Yoko struggled to sit up but L'Cor wouldn't let her. "Noâ¦she doesn't want to see him. You know that!"
"It'll be alright Yoko. They used to date before Kasa's career in the Tournament, remember?"
"Of course I remember! She doesn't want him to see her now!"
"Don't worry! He still loves her you know. He'll take care of her. As for you, L'Cor and the other Mick pilots stuck out in Old Neomar, under no conditions are you to come back here! No fancy heroics until we get a better handle on who these guys are."
L'Cor piloted Phantom Crash as best as he could with Yoko sitting on his lap. He made random twists and turns until he found a small neighbourhood with small houses. He parked Phantom Crash beside one of them and activated his OC. "What are we supposed to do?" he asked quietly.
Ivan made some typing motions and a map appeared on L'Cor's secondary monitor. There's an old reservation not far from where you are now. It has a huge underground facility. Make your way there and stay hidden. I'll be in touch."
"What about the other Mick pilots?"
"I'll contact them one at a time. I won't risk a wide band signal. I'll join you with some supplies as soon as I can sneak out of the city."
"Be careful Ivan!"
"I will. Your number one job right now is to take care of Yoko!"
"Yessir!" said L'Cor automatically. It wasn't until after Ivan had signed off that L'Cor realized that he had answered Ivan as if he were back in MAAC Basic. In this time of crisis, Ivan was showing a surprising about of authority and initiative. L'Cor fervently hoped that Ivan would make good on his promise because beyond getting Yoko to safety, L'Cor had absolutely no idea what to do.
*
L'Cor gingerly walked Phantom Crash down a large ramp. He marvelled at the size of the reservation. Everything here seemed to be sized for giants. From the walkways to the thoroughfares to the gates that opened into the underground facility, Phantom Crash felt right at home. L'Cor wondered if this might have been an old military base of some sort.
He reached the bottom of the ramp and was confronted by a large metal gate. Before he could wonder how to open it though, the gate rumbled and vibrated and slowly lifted up. How was there even power? How did Ivan know about this place? Just who was this old man anyway?
L'Cor walked Phantom Crash though the gate and the gate automatically began to close behind him. He barely noticed. He was awed by what he saw in front on him. He was standing at the beginning of a long lighted tunnel that was obviously man-made. The tunnel was at least sixty feet tall by one hundred feet wide. L'Cor could march an entire tri-quad of MAACs through this tunnel and still have lots of room to spare.
L'Cor spotted some large green arrows with signs that said, "Hangar" so he followed them. Eventually, he came upon a gigantic hangar facility. It was obvious to him now that the long tunnel he had just traversed must have sloped downward. The hangar was mostly empty but there were several bays that were large enough to service MAACs.
As he walked around the hangar, he heard stomping noises and when he looked, he saw several Micks trudge into the hangar bay. He could almost imagine the looks of the faces of the pilots. They must be as dumbfounded as he!
L'Cor called out to them and got them organized. He was somewhat surprised that the leadership role came as easily to him now as it did during the war. As for the other pilots, most of them had shell shocked expressions and it was obvious that they were relieved to have someone take charge.
L'Cor sent several to go exploring this amazing facility. Their goal was to look for medical supplies, food and anything useful that they might need. L'Cor then organized the rest to take care of the injured. Amongst the injured was Yoko. She had passed out again but her breathing was smooth and even. Not being medically trained, L'Cor didn't know what else to do for her.
When some of the exploration team came back to report that they had found a small hospital type room with several beds, L'Cor ordered them to go back and bring back some stretchers.
By the time the all of the injured had been moved, L'Cor allowed himself a moment to relax his guard. It was at that moment that Ivan McMac made an appearance.
Ivan came down the long tunnel at the wheel of a large truck. L'Cor checked his watch and saw that it was almost midnight. Most of the other Mick pilots had found whatever comfortable places they could and had turned in for the night.
Ivan stopped the truck and hopped out. He held out his right hand and L'Cor shook it strongly. âWhat's the situation here?" asked Ivan. Ivan's face showed his exhaustion but his body still moved as if it were twenty years younger.
L'Cor found himself responding as if to a superior officer. "We've got about fifteen Mick pilots here. About half of them are injured in some way. Ditto with the Micks however a few of them like Phantom Crash are completely undamaged."
As L'Cor talked, Ivan began to make a circuit around the hangar. He was especially interested in the condition of the Micks and he nodded his head approvingly. "Good. Good. That means that most of the pilots who were playing today made it here. How's Yoko?"
"I think she's doing fine. I'm not a medic but her breathing is steady and she doesn't have a fever."
Ivan paused for a minute and placed a large hand on L'Cor's shoulder. "Thank you for saving her. You have no idea what that girl means to me."
"She means a lot to me too," said L'Cor truthfully.
Ivan gave him an appraising look but said nothing. L'Cor waited for several more moments but then couldn't contain himself anymore. "What's going on back at the city?"
Ivan started moving again as he said, "Pirates. They call themselves the Black Skull. They're holding the entire city hostage. They have about four tri-quads of MAACs and they've already shown that they're not too concerned about using them to make a point."
"What about the armed forces? Surely they're mobilizing?"
Ivan shook his head. "They don't dare start a MAAC battle in the middle of the city."
"Have they said what they want?"
"Not publicly, but it's not hard to figure out. They obviously want the Mick factories to start making MAACs. With enough MAACs, they could pretty much do whatever they want."
"Oh frak!" swore L'Cor with feeling. "How did you get out?"
Ivan shrugged nonchalantly. "I know a couple of secret passageways. Over the course of the next few days, we're going to have a lot more people show up here. For obvious reasons, we can't have the entire city come here so I've made provisions for some critical support people to come. As for the rest of the population, as long as they stay in their homes and not try anything too noticeable, they should be fine."
L'Cor waved a hand at the hangar bay. "What is this place anyway? How did you know about it?"
Ivan gave him an amused smile. "This is my home away from home. After the war ended five orbits ago, I settled down in New Neomar but spent as much time as possible getting this place operational again. As for what this place is, this is the Neomar Institute for Mobilized Havoc home of the first MAAC research facility."
L'Cor whistled in appreciation. "This is where they invented the MAAC?"
Ivan smiled enigmatically. "Not really. In my younger years, I was a technician here before I got called into active duty as a crew chief."
"Wait a minute. What do you mean not really? Either they developed the MAAC here or they didn't"
"Oh, they developed the MAAC here, but they didn't invent it." Ivan had an amused smile on his face. "Since the war is over and this place is deserted, I suppose it's ok to show you what I mean. Come with me."
Ivan led the way deeper into the large underground building. They passed by several security doors that were wide open. L'Cor could almost imagine how tight the security must have been when this place was fully operational. A question formed in his mind and as he followed Ivan, he gave voice to it. "If this place was so secure and secret, why is it still here? Why didn't they shut it down or destroy it?"
"Remember the nuke that destroyed much of this city? The brass thought that this facility was destroyed too. After the war, no one really bothered to come out here to check. Everything had already been stripped out before the nuke hit so why bother? It wasn't a secret anymore."
"But the nukeâ¦this place is almost pristine condition! The nuke should have caused some damage at least!"
Ivan chuckled softly. "That is one of the mysteries that keeps me coming back." Ivan stopped in front of a large door. Unlike the others, this one still had power to it. Ivan placed his hand on the lock sensor and the door opened. He led the way into the room and with a mockingly grand gesture, he said in an amused tone, "Welcome to the greatest secret of Gaya and one of the mysterious of NIMH!"
L'Cor could not believe his eyes. In the centre of the room was a MAAC. He instantly recognized it as a Wyv'en. Even from this distance, he could see battle damage on the exterior. Most of the armour was blackened as if from an explosion. He whirled upon Ivan and said angrily, "What're you playing at? That's just an old battle damaged Wyv'en!"
"That's exactly what it is. However, that Wyv'en has been here longer than this facility. In fact, this facility was built around the Wyv'en. MAAC technology was developed by reverse engineering that Wyv'en."
Chapter 12 Collision Course
L'Cor lay on the hard floor beside Yoko's bed. She was snoring softly. Ivan had managed to turn on some medical machines and attached sensors that monitored Yoko's condition. As far as the machines could tell, Yoko was fine.
As for L'Cor, he was anything but fine. His mind was still struggling with what Ivan had showed him. How was it even possible?
L'Cor pulled out R'Tus' AV journal and turned it on. He was exhausted but he needed to see his brother's face and hear his brother's voice before he could allow himself to sleep.
He put the journal on a random search. A few seconds later, it beeped softly as it opened an entry. L'Cor glanced at the date of the entry and did a double take. He had thought that he had seen every entry in the journal but he had never seen this one before. It wasn't the date that had L'Cor confused though. He was quite familiar with the date. It was a date that was burned forever into his memory. It was the date that R'Tus had died. Somehow, R'Tus must have recorded this entry before leaving on the mission and the slipped it into L'Cor's bunk. Satisfied that he had a reasonable explanation, L'Cor pressed the Play button.
Start of Entry Orbit 3016, 9th Moon, 13th Solar Cycle
Down time is the time I hate the most. This is the time right before a mission. This is the time for the nerves to hit. Many pilots claim that they can sometimes feel that this is the last night of their lives. Many of these pilots were right.
As for me, I never had these so called premonitions of disaster. Never, that is, until last night.
Last night, when everyone else in my tri-quad was either boozing it up or seeking solace in someone else's bed, I was lying alone in mine. I couldn't explain the eerie feeling. Even now I can't explain it. Am I going to die? Is today my last day here? Would it be such a bad thing if it were?
If I were to die, I know Q'Wen would be sad. She would miss me terribly but I believe in time, she would get over it. I have no doubt that she loves me, but she's strong like that. As for L'Cor, I know that he would be devastated.
In a way, it's typical of L'Cor. Ever since we were kids, he's always looked out for me. It's become a of a way of life for L'Cor. I think it probably started when our father died.
I remember getting picked on and bullied a lot as a child when our father did not come back from his last mission. I remember one instance when I was surrounded by a bunch of bullies. The bullies said that my father had run away because he couldn't stand me anymore. It was at that point that L'Cor had waded into the group and took on all of the bullies at once. I had never seen L'Cor so mad before. In the end, he chased the bullies off, but he himself was bloodied and battered.
After that, L'Cor seemed to always be at my side, watching out for me, protecting me. It wasn't until he got drafted that we were physically separated for a long time. Those years without him really made me realize that I had come to depend on him too much. It was in those years I think that I really grew up without the smothering protection of my brother.
After I joined his unit, we argued many times about this issue without ever putting a name to it. I think I understand now though. I thought about it all of last night with more clarity than I have ever experienced.
It was simple. I had changed. I wasn't the small-frightened child anymore. L'Cor just wasn't prepared for that. He had this role that he had lived in for so many years that he just didn't know how to move beyond it. He was the protective older brother. That was what defined him. If I die today, I know it will devastate him because there's no way that he can convince himself that he couldn't have prevented it. If I die today, L'Cor will have to redefine himself somehow.
As much as I depended on my big brother growing up, I now see that he depended just as much on me. Without me, he is not the over-protective older brother anymore. Sure, he still has Q'Wen, but they were never that close. In fact without me, L'Cor and Q'Wen probably won't have much in common.
If I die todayâ¦
"Rrrooonnngggâ¦.Rrrooonnnggâ¦."
Klaxons rang in the background as I ran with the members of my quad towards our MAACs. Chief Willan gave me a thumbs up signal as I came up to him. I clapped him on his back and gave him a big smile. One of the best advices L'Cor had given me was to make friends with your crew chief. That was the guy in charge of maintaining your MAAC and he was the only thing that stood between you and a critical malfunction or jam at the wrong time. I slipped him a couple of large bags of chocolate. One was for sharing with his crew. The other was for his wife, who was pregnant with his third child. Apparently, she had cravings for chocolate. Not just any chocolate though. She wanted the real expensive imported kind that Chief Willan could not afford. I didn't mind picking them up for him. I didn't have much use for money. After sending enough money to keep Q'Wen in school every month, I had plenty left for myself. So, I spent whatever disposable income I had on buying treats and such for Chief Willan and his crew. It was a good investment. My Wyv'en never had even the slightest glitch.
"She's warm and ready to go, sir!" said Chief Willan with a proud grin.
That was another added bonus. Chief Willan and his crew had a habit of pre-warming the engine on my Wyvern. That way, I never had to cold-start it, and I was always the first one ready in my tri-quad.
"Thanks Chief! Say, when's your wife due?" I asked. I already knew, but I also knew that Chief Willan liked to be asked.
"She's due any day now sir!"
I shared a warm smile with him and said, "Give her my regards, ok?"
Chief Willan looked like he wanted to say something more and then he hesitatingly said, "My wife wants to name the baby after you."
That surprised me and my eyes watered at the thought. I put a hand on his shoulder and said, "I would be honoured, chief." We stayed like that for several seconds until one of his people noisily cleared his throat.
Chief Willan shook himself and promptly went into business mode. "I looked at your mission specs. It's a recon-in-force mission; however, it's all the way out in the Badlands."
The Badlands were once a mountainous region, host to a couple of rather beautiful cities and dozens of resorts. Ever since the Saxx created a toehold there though, it had been re-dubbed as The Badlands.
I nodded almost to myself and said, "The Intel folks think that the Saxx may be up to their old tricks there. They may be building a hive. Our job is to go in, verify the presence of a hive and then get the info to Intel ASAP."
Chief Willan nodded in agreement and said, "I had the boys put the heavy shield on your Wyv'en's left arm. I know how you like to get in close and personal with the bugs. On your back, I've put in your favourite MFC, the one with the really long blade. For your right arm weapon, I've given you a Hyper Velocity Cannon." He winked at me and continued. "Your head unit has the standard point defence laser - not very powerful, but great against missiles. Just remember to arm it when you get painted."
I nodded at all of Chief Willan's weapons choices. Chief Willan was very familiar with my fighting preferences. We had never once disagreed on a weapon load out. The heavy shield is often distained by many veteran pilots. They scorned the idea of actually blocking any kind of fire and would rather rely on their mobility and the armour of their MAACs. The problem was, in modern combat, it didn't matter if you were mobile. You were going to get hit no matter what. The shield gave enemy weapons another target other than my precious skin.
The outer layer of the shield was dotted with reactive armour pockets. These pockets were designed to blow out the second they registered a projectile impact. If a laser weapon were to hit the shield, the fragments caused by the armour's blowout served to help diffuse the damage done by the laser. Behind the armour, on the inside of the shield, I carried extra clips for my HVC.
Last but not least, was my favourite MFC. The monofilament cutter was the closest thing to a close combat melee weapon that a MAAC could have. Chief Willan had picked out the longest one he could find and given it to my MAAC. He had even added two extra bars perpendicular to the blade to so that it could be snapped securely on the side of my jump jet backpack. At first glance, it looked like a giant sword.
Chief Willan had loaded all of my favourite weapons. That was rare. Usually I only got one or two, but never all three. I gave him a questioning look and he replied, "There's something fishy about this mission. I wanted you to have the best possible load out. Your Wyv'en would have been a little on the heavy side, so I didn't bother giving you extra armour plating. If you need to run for it, just drop your shield to give yourself an extra boost."
Again, I agreed with Chief Willan. Something about the mission didn't sit right with me either. I noticed that the only energy weapon I got was the point defence laser. My HVC relied on ammunition and my shield was of time-limited use. As the mission continued; and if there was a lot of action, my Wyv'en would become lighter and faster. However, thanks to the point defence laser and my MFC, I would still be decently armed.
I clapped Chief Willan on his shoulder once more and said, "Thanks Chief. See you when I get back!"
Chief Willan took my hand between his and shook it warmly. "Good luck sir, and good hunting!"
I climbed up the retractable ladder and strapped myself into my cockpit, which was located in the chest area of my Wyv'en. As I powered on my internal systems, the S-Wave communicator came alive with the chatter of my quad mates.
"Can you believe this? My crew chief armed my Wyv'en with an HVC a flamethrower and a quad tube missile system. Why can't I ever get a multi-barrel auto-cannon or something?" Jensen's voice had a whiny quality that got one everybody's nerves.
"Because dumb 「bum-bum」, the Wyv'en can't handle a monster that that! You'd need a Drac'en or something similar!" Liselle's voice was firm and strong. It always made me feel good to know that she was going to be on my wing. She had caught the attention of the battalion commander though, so chances are, she'd be moving up the tri-quad to the medium class quad.
"It's easy for you to talk Lis!" Rosba was the other woman in my quad. "You're armed with a heavy auto-cannon today. You've got real firepower! All I've got is a light auto-cannon and a pair of flamethrowers. Who the hell uses flamethrowers these days?"
That was when I decided to cut into the chatter. "Alright people, listen up!" The chatter on the line cut off right away. "Remember people, we're the recon quad on this tri-quad. We have to be able to move fast to get in fast and get out faster. We find the hive; upload the coordinates and the get out while the big guys level it. Jensen and Rosba, you're our path clearers today. Your targets are the Saxx that do not have power armour. Lis, you're with me. I'll flush out any Saxx in power armour and you take them down. Oh, and Rosba? Intel says that the newest tactic adopted by the Saxx is to throw their worker-class at us. It makes us waste our ammo. The workers don't wear armour so the flamethrower is ideal. HQ says that one hundred workers are equal to twenty-five warriors so you might even make ace today!"
"Hot damn!" exclaimed Rosba.
"Hey, that's not fair!" whined Jensen.
"Enough chatter people!" I said with a growl. "Lis, take point. Jensen take Lis's right wing, Rosba, you're on her left. Move out people!"
I watched my displays carefully as my quad moved out of the hanger. Jackson and his Grif'cen quad would follow soon after and L'Cor would head out with the heavies after that. I know my brother was a little disappointed in my decision to remain with the scout MAACs. I guess he figured that I would move up to the Drac'en quad as soon as I made ace so that he could watch my back. He just couldn't get it through his head that I'm not that bright eyed bushy tailed little brother that he had left at home several years ago. By remaining in a scout class Wyv'en, I got to be the quad leader and it let me watch over the raw recruits that got sent our way. Despite the somewhat juvenile chatter, my quad was actually shaping up rather nicely. That was due in no small part to the fact that I drove them mercilessly in the simulators and on the missions. I checked my chronometer. We were early. The first MMA wasn't due to arrive for another ten minutes. It would fly us out to The Badlands where we would initiate a rapid aerial drop over the mission area.
I called out to the group. "Looks like we've got a few extra minutes folks; lock down weapons, simulators up!"
There was a chorus of groans as my quad followed my instructions. They knew what was coming!
"Lis, you're it! Jensen and Rosba, tag and paint her if you can!"
Liselle must have expecting something along these lines. Dagnag-it but she's good! She would make a fine quad leader and maybe even a tri-quad leader one day. She hit her jump jets immediately just as Rosba and Jensen were starting to turn towards her. They ended up painting each other with their targeting computers momentarily before they realized their mistake. One after the other, they fired their jump jets and began to pursue their prey.
I watched their performance carefully. As usual, Liselle's piloting skills were near flawless. Jensen still had an annoying ability to over compensate when he was riding his jump jets and Rosba was still relying too much on her targeting computer.
Almost ten minutes later, I heard an incoming communication announcing the arrival of the MMA. I called my quad in and had them wait at the Designated Area until the airship landed. While we waited, I gave them a quick critique on their performance.
"Liselle, good job, just try to watch your six a little more. The enemy is not always as predictable in their movements as Rosba and Jensen. Jensen, stop relying on your instruments when jumping. By the time you register the numbers, you've already flown too high. Stay up too long and you're just one big target. Rosba you still tend to spray your fire. Even heavy MAACs don't have unlimited ammunition. Any questions? Good. Here comes our ride."
The Mobile MAAC Airship landed with the aid of six spears of brilliant light from its vernier jets. The ramp in the back opened and my quad trooped in. I was the last aboard. It was a good two hours to The Badlands. I told my quad to stand down their weapons systems and to power up their computer simulators. Some quad leaders preferred their people to stand down during transport. Normally I would for a longer ride, but for the next two hours, keeping our brains active was a better way to spend our time. I've seen too many pilots get killed the minute they dropped because their brains were still trying to wake up from a short nap.
While my quad worked their simulations, I looked over the mission brief once more.
Mission Brief for Tri-quad 62909
Enter zone 5248 x 2341, also known as The Badlands. Recon-in-force and locate possible Saxx hive. Report coordinates of hive and destroy.
Intel Brief
It is believed that construction of the hive has only just begun. Atmospheric flyovers have seen only worker class with a few warrior class Saxx providing escort and supervision. No officer class Saxx have been detected. Threat assessment is low.
It was the last line that had me worried. This wouldn't be the first time Intel messed up a threat assessment. A hive is serious business. If we allowed another hive to be built, then the Saxx presence on Gaya would increase exponentially. A recon-in-force usually consisted of two or three tri-quads, just in case they ran into nasty action. Sending only one tri-quad out was just asking for trouble, especially to recon a potential hive. I blew out a sigh. Oh well, I'll just have to do my best to keep my quad alive long enough for the big guns to show up.
Signing off for now.
End of Entry
Rrrooonnngggâ¦.
L'Cor snapped awake from a bad dream. Had it been a dream? He could still hear the alarm in the background as R'Tus signed off from his journal in order to prepare for the mission. For a moment, in his sleep-fogged mind, L'Cor thought that R'Tus was actually here. Speaking to him.
L'Cor shook his head to try to clear the cobwebs from it. Rrrooonnngggâ¦.
There was the alarm again! Was it the pirates? No. Ivan had said that this place was almost undetectable from the outside. Besides, Ivan had activated some of the defensive sensors. If anyone had tripped them, the alarm would be so loud that everyone would've heard it.
L'Cor checked Yoko's monitor. It was still showing that everything was normal. He got painfully to his feet and left the dark room.
The corridor outside was dim, but that was because the lights had been dimmed to conserve power. He checked his watch and saw that it was almost seven o'clock in the morning. The people would be waking up soon.
Suddenly, L'Cor felt a strange urge to revisit the MAAC room where the mysterious Wyv'en was standing. He retraced his steps back through the long corridors until he came upon the doors. The last time he was here with Ivan, the door had been sealed and Ivan had to open the door with his hand on the sensor plate. This time though, the door was wide open. At first, L'Cor thought that Ivan might be inside, but the doors were programmed to close automatically.
Feeling as if the whole situation was surreal, L'Cor walked through the door. His eyes were immediately drawn to the Wyv'en MAAC in the centre of the room. The floor lamps had been turned on and they illuminated the MAAC.
Earlier, Ivan had explained that one of the great mysterious about the MAAC was that no one could touch it. The closest that anyone could get to it was a couple of feet and then they were pushed back by an unseen force. Ivan said that they had long stopped trying to figure out what the force was. In order to reverse engineer the machine, they had scanned it numerous times with dozens of types of scanners.
A couple of hundred orbits ago, excavators had unearthed the giant machine when they dug into the cavern where it had rested. Over the years, the engineers and scientists who studied the machine had tried to preserve as much of the surroundings as possible.
The Wyv'en stood in the middle of a rocky floor while the rest of the room was covered in modern machinery. Directly beneath the MAAC's legs was a block of stone and embedded into the stone was a T shaped bar. Ivan had explained that no one could come close to the bar either and many had speculated as to what it was. Some had even grudgingly said that the bar resembled a sword except that it didn't have an edge to speak of.
Ivan, of course had his own unofficial theory. He had said that the bar in the stone block was a key and that if anyone could remove it, then the unseen force that was keeping the MAAC preserved would disappear.
L'Cor didn't care about any theories right now. The stone block mesmerized him. He felt as if it were calling out to him. As if in a trance, he slowly approached until he was directly in front of the stone block.
"L'Cor! What're you doing?" Ivan's voice seemed to be coming from miles away.
L'Cor shrugged away the voice. All he could see now was the stone block and the T shaped bar embedded in it. The short end of the T did indeed look like the handle of a sword. Still in his trance-like state, he slowly reached out his right hand and grasped the bar.
The bar was warm in his hand and it felt as if it were vibrating. He pulled gently at it and the bar slid a little bit up. He gave a stronger pull and the entire bar slid effortlessly out of the stone block.
The long end of the bar immediately flared up in brilliant blue light. The blue light was intensely hot and L'Cor somehow knew that if he were to touch it, it would cut him as easily as a hot knife through butter.
In the brilliant light cast by the bar, L'Cor could clearly see the previously unseen force that kept the MAAC safe. It shone with a pale white glow and it encased the MAAC like a giant translucent egg.
Without fully understanding why, L'Cor swung the glowing bar at the glowing force field. An incredibly brilliant light instantly enshrouded him. There was a dull roaring in his ears and the bar in his hand suddenly grew heavier and heavier.
L'Cor shook himself as if waking from a dream. The light disappeared and to his shock, he could see that the bar in his hand was indeed getting larger. Soon, it was too large to hold and he quickly threw on to the ground in front of him. As soon as it left his hand, the blue light vanished and it hit the ground with a harsh clang.
It didn't stop growing though. To L'Cor amazement, it grew to over fifteen feet in length and it was with great surprise that he realized he knew what it was. What had appeared to be a long T shaped metal bar only moments ago was revealed to be a normal sized monofilament cutter.
L'Cor felt a presence beside him and he turned to look at Ivan. Ivan was staring at the MFC in amazement. "What did you do?" he demanded.
L'Cor didn't have an answer for him. The ladder that led to the cockpit of the MAAC beckoned to him and he started to walk towards it.
He felt Ivan's hand on his shoulder and he shrugged it off. He reached the ladder and began to climb. When he reached the cockpit, he touched the sensor plate on the side of the chest.
The chest armour rumbled and shook and then split open with a hiss of escaped gas. There was something eerily familiar about this MAAC but L'Cor couldn't put his finger on it.
There was a neural suit folded neatly on the chair of the combat harness. L'Cor picked it up before sitting down. He laid the neural suit on the floor of the cockpit and placed his arms and legs into their respective sockets.
The screen in front of him instantly flashed to life. On it, was a face that was as familiar to him as his own face except that it looked much different than the last time he had seen it.
R'Tus' face appeared older, and more mature. He even had a medium length beard running along his jaw line. His eyes were twinkling and his mouth was quirked up into a grin. "Hello L'Cor, reports of my death; have been greatly mistaken."
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Post by Koalabear on Mar 15, 2019 6:50:19 GMT -5
Chapter 13 Meeting with Destiny
As L'Cor stared dumbfounded at his brother's image on the Wyv'en's screen, R'Tus grinned and said, "I can almost imagine your expression right now. You're shocked aren't you? Well I hope you have my AV journal with you. There are some hidden entries that will explain a few things. Turn it on now. It was programmed to unlock the hidden files as soon as it linked with the computer in my Wyv'en. Go on, turn it on."
L'Cor pulled the AV journal from his pocket. He looked at it in wonder. Hidden entries?
On the Wyv'en screen, R'Tus spoke once more, "Come on L'Cor. I'm sure you have it. I made sure it was put on your bunk. Gosh, I hope you didn't sit on it!"
L'Cor turned the AV journal around in his hand. It looked just like a regular Personal Digital Assistant with a sliver casing.
"Come on L'Cor. Stop admiring the journal and turn the thing on already!"
L'Cor almost smiled at R'Tus's cajoling tone. How was all this possible? How was R'Tus's Wyv'en here instead of being blown into atoms by a friendly thernuke?
"L'Cooorrrrr!" R'Tus sang out his name in a singsong voice like he used to do as a child. "I know you have thousands of questions. Well, the answers are all in that journal. Yes, theoretically, I could have recorded the answers into the computer in the Wyv'en but it'd be pretty hard to put the Wyv'en on your bunk, right?"
Put it on his bunk? If R'Tus had his AV journal with him, then how the frak did it appear in L'Cor's bunk? Although it was just another mystery to add to the others, this last though finally spurred L'Cor into action. He touched the power button and the AV journal turned on.
"Good boy! See, you can teach an old dog new tricks!" On the Wyv'en's computer screen, R'Tus's face disappeared.
The AV journal hummed quietly until it opened an entry that L'Cor had never seen before. R'Tus's face was younger than it had been on the Wyv'en's computer screen and his expression was a little shell-shocked. L'Cor heard someone coming up the entry ladder and looked up in time to see Ivan's puzzled face. L'Cor didn't say anything and gestured with the AV journal. Ivan sat himself down on the inside of the chest plate and both he and L'Cor settled in to watch as R'Tus's image started to talk.
Start of Entry – Orbit: Unknown, Moon: Unknown, Solar Cycle: Beats Me!
I have no idea where I am. The last thing I knew, I was holding off a tidal wave of Saxx as my chronometer counted down the seconds I had to live. I certainly didn't expect this!
Let me back up for a minute. For a while, my premonition from the night before certainly seemed accurate. Nothing about this mission had seemed right. The trip out to the Badlands had been easy enough. It was a two-hour trip and I had my quad running through their simulators the whole time. We were all stuck inside our MAACs so that we could drop at a moments notice. Our air carrier was a scout class Mobile MAAC Airship. It was plenty fast, but it could only carry one quad of light MAACs. Anyway, the first clue I had that something was really wrong was when our MMA got hit.
As I said, we were all in our MAACs so we were the lucky ones. We rode our jump jets and I was firing my HVC for almost the entire time. The ground beneath us seemed to be swarming with Saxx.
Lis got hit and she lost control of her jets. She ended up landing roughly on her Wyv'en's feet. She was fine, but the legs on her MAAC were busted. I cut my jets so that I could drop faster. Just before I hit, I picked out a likely landing spot – the head of a Saxx in power armour – and hit the nail on the head.
I managed to get in front of Lis's Wyv'en just as a pair of Saxx in power armour opened up with multi-barrel auto-cannons. I took the fire on my heavy shield while I sneaked pot shots with my own smaller but just as deadly weapon.
At that moment, Jensen and Rosba landed and their volume of fire did much to clear an area around Lis and I.
"Lis! Are you all right?"
"I'm fine sir. My chest hurts though. I think I broke some ribs in that landing."
"Stay put for a minute. Do not eject! We're in it to our necks this time!"
"Roger that sir!"
Lis's voice was a little shaken but steady. Dagnag-it, but she was a good soldier! "Jensen, Rosba! Covering fire! Use your flamers!"
There was an echo of acknowledgements as Jensen and Rosba complied with my orders. They were both coming along fairly well, but still needed some polishing. I hadn't expected on meeting many power armour Saxx so I had them both outfitted with flamethrowers. These weapons were pure murder for any Saxx not in armour. In the mountainous region of the Badlands, they could use them without fear to doing too much collateral damage.
While Jensen and Rosba racked up their kills, I roamed around my quad members and concentrated on the Saxx in power armour. My shield was a blasted ruin so I threw it into a Saxx's face before I decapitated it with my MFC.
Once we had cleared our LZ, I took a minute to get my bearings. We were about twenty miles away from our intended drop zone. In hindsight, it was a good thing we dropped early. If we had dropped on target, we would have fallen directly on top of the hive that was built into the side of the mountain.
I soon ran out of ammunition for my HVC. The mission brief had described this mission as a scouting mission. Obviously, someone in Intel had frakked up. I took some holos of the hive and uploaded the images to HQ. The response I got was that they were deploying a thernuke. What a mess up! Somebody had hit the panic button at HQ. I tried telling them that there were two more quads dropping and that I had a damaged MAAC but didn't get anywhere.
While I was distracted on my call to HQ, something hit me a hammer blow on my back. I knew, even before my computer displayed the results, that my jump jets had been hit. That meant no more jumping and more importantly, no more boosting. After I nailed the Saxx that had hit me, I called Lis on a private line. She smiled grimly at me. I almost laughed. We were quite the pair. She had functioning jump jets but not legs and I had good legs but no jump jets. "Get ready to bail Lis."
"With all due respect sir, no."
"Don't argue with me Lis! I have use of my legs. I can hold them off longer than you can."
"Your legs work sir. You can run for it before the thernuke comes."
"Nonsense! I'm not leaving you behind!" I opened another channel and called out, "Rosba, get over here!"
"Yes sir!"
Lis looked startled. "Don't do this R'Tus! You can still make it!"
Rosba's Wyv'en came over while Jensen maintained covering fire. I keyed in some command codes and took control of Lis's MAAC. I looked back at Lis and said; "I can't tell Cinda that I left her baby sister out here to die, now can I?"
Lis's jaw dropped wide open. "You knew?"
"Of course I knew! You're taller than your sister, but you both have the same fiery temperament. Plus you're both so gorgeous that it's not hard to spot the family resemblances."
I keyed in some commands to Lis's MAAC and her cockpit swung open. "You better get out of there unless you want to die with the Saxx leering at you in your neural suit!" I gave her my best leer and she blushed. Our eyes met and we shared a rather intense moment.
"R'Tus! Pick it up little bro! You're gonna be the main course at the BBQ in a few minutes!" L'Cor voice came over the S-Wave and broke the moment that Lis and I were sharing.
I hit my communicator key and said, "I'm trying bro! I am being swarmed. Lis is down and I've some damage to my jump jets. I need fire support."
"Lieutenant Teshen! Get ready to bail out!" ordered L'Cor.
"Acknowledged sir!" When Lis next addressed me, there was softness in her eyes. "I…I wish you had taken me up on my offer R'Tus."
"I do too. Tell Cinda that I think of her often and that I remember our times fondly. Now get out of here!" I watched as Rosba took Lis gently into her MAAC's hands. "Jensen, get on Rosba's wing. Head for the rendezvous and don't you dare let anything happen to either Lis or Rosba!
"Yes sir! Uh sir, aren't you coming?"
"Can't. My jets are damaged. I can't boost. But I'll buy you guys some time. Now go!"
They went.
"R'Tus! Heads up little bro! I'm sending a flight of AROWs your way!"
I watched as a flight of AROWs zeroed in on a force of Saxx that was closing on my position. Ten of the Saxx died instantly. "Nice shot L'Cor! Chalk up another ten for the Saxx killing machine!"
"No time to chit chat little bro; Get Lis out of her MAAC and get her out of there!"
"Already done I gave her to Rosba. I'm holding rearguard."
"What're you talking about? "R'Tus! Retreat dagnag-it! There's a thernuke on the way right now!"
I didn't respond right away. Suddenly, the force that L'Cor had stalled was the least of my worries. The ground beneath me trembled. I keyed in some more commands into Lis's abandoned MAAC and ran. I knew that there was no way I could catch up with Jensen and Rosba so I ran towards the Saxx instead. Behind me, the ground on which I had been standing on collapsed and several Saxx poured out from the resulting hole. I sent my final command to Lis's MAAC and it exploded into a fiery ball of flame. I threw down my empty HVC and pulled out Lis's auto-cannon. I only had the one magazine so I had to make every shot count.
"I can't break free bro. They're boiling out of the ground." I grinned to myself at my little joke. Thanks to the self-destruct mechanism in our MAACs, the Saxx coming out of the ground were definitely boiled!
I put down a Saxx in power armour with my auto-cannon as I pulled my MFC from the weapon rack on my back. The jump jets had shielded it so it was still fully functional. With my MFC in my left hand, I swung as I ran and cut the legs out from another officer type. If I was going to die, then I was going to die fighting!
A warning bell chimed and I glanced at my secondary monitor. It showed a fiery line in the sky. I keyed my S-Wave and said, "I see it bro! Get going! Get my quad out safe and get them home!"
"I…"
"Hey bro; don't get mushy on me now!" I jumped my MAAC over some Saxx with the power of the mecha-muscles built into my MAACs legs and emptied the rest of my magazine into yet another Saxx in power armour. The effort needed to keep my MAAC moving fast was starting to drain my stamina. I couldn't resist one last shot at my brother though. "Hey Lis? You're a great pilot! And because I know he'd never say anything, L'Cor thinks that you have great legs! Take care of the big lug for me ok?"
The warning bell chimed again. The time to impact was five seconds. My time was up. "I…good-bye L'Cor."
I saw the thernuke hit the hive square on. Obviously, the Saxx hadn't had time to mount any anti missile defences yet so in a way, it was good that we had hit them now. One MAAC pilot was a cheap price to pay for an entire hive full of Saxx. Even if that pilot was me.
My sensors blanked out automatically and I sheathed my MFC, closed my eyes and waited to die. When the shockwave hit, I actually felt as if my MAAC had been picked up by a giant hand and tossed about. I don't know how long the storm lasted but somehow I landed on my feet. When my sensors finally rebooted, I looked around, surprised that I was still here.
Of course, ‘here' is relative. Gone was the hive. Gone were the Saxx. Gone were the mountains of the Badlands. Instead, what I saw before me was a gigantic forest filled with gigantic trees.
I mean, seriously. These trees were HUGE! My Wyv'en is one of the smallest MAACs in the Royal Gayan Armed Forces; however, it was still almost forty feet tall. The trees dwarfed any MAAC I had ever seen.
Where in Hadis's stinking armpit was I? I was starting to feel like I was in a dream but since I had no alternatives, I began to walk forward and into the forest.
The forest was pretty gloomy as the trees did a good job at blocking out the sun. I didn't mind though because my light amplification sensors were working just fine.
Nothing happened for a while but my external microphones picked up some odd sounds. My computer couldn't identify these sounds except that they definitely didn't belong in a forest. The forest was getting dimmer so I hit my external floodlights. As I crested a hill, I saw them.
There were four MAACs engaged in hand-to-hand combat. I didn't recognize these models, which is odd because I thought I knew every MAAC model in the Armed Forces. Oh well, maybe these were from the southern hemisphere?
Anyway, the MAACs all paused their simulated combat as I approached. A couple were holding their hands to their head units in an unconscious effort to block out harsh light. I belatedly realized that my external floodlights might be messing with their light amplification systems so I turned my lights down. A part of me was marvelling at their control though. Most pilots wouldn't be able to salute with their MAACs much less imitate a human gesture like that without cracking their hands on their head units.
I keyed my S-Wave communicator on an all bands frequency and greeted the unknown MAACs. Parted of me wanted to get in on the action. I had never met pilots as skilled as these and I found myself really wanting to test myself against them. Their movements were so smooth and precise!
I got no response on my communicator. Before I could try again though, one of the MAACs raised a T shaped object in its arms. I raised my left hand in a greeting and something flew from the T shaped object. My computer didn't chime an alarm and I was somewhat surprised when a missile shattered on my chest armour. Maybe it was a dud?
That was when I finally noticed the different paint patterns on the armour of the MAACs. Four of them were darkly painted while the fifth, which had its back against a giant tree trunk was brightly painted.
I armed my anti missile system as I moved forward. I couldn't take another chance that the next missile to come my way was going to be a dud like the first! One of the dark armoured MAACs turned to engage the brightly painted one. The one that had fired at me was readying another shot while two others were starting for me. Their monofilament cutters were held high.
I did not know what I was getting myself into here. Obviously, this wasn't just a training exercise. However, I had never heard of MAACs attacking other MAACs. Maybe the dark ones were pirates? Either way, I didn't want to seriously hurt the pirates. I didn't have any projectile type weapons left so I thought that I might be able to disable their optics with my anti missile laser.
I fired the tiny laser that was built into my head unit at the missile toting MAAC. The beam hit the MAAC in the centre of its head unit. The dark MAAC fell as if it had been hit by a mag-train. Well! That was certainly unexpected!
By the tree, the brightly painted MAAC had disabled its opponent by taking off its head unit. That was a clean blow! Whoever the pilot was, he/she was very skilled to have pulled off that manoeuvre. Not wanting to be outdone, and not wanting to seriously hurt the pilots, I raised my left arm as one of the dark MAACs swung his MFC at me. There was no telltale glow around the MFC so I knew that the L-Wave beam was not activated.
Imagine my surprise when the MFC broke on my arm! I used the same left arm, closed the fingers into a fist and punched the other MAAC on its chest armour. I needed some room to think clearly!
The dark MAAC fell to the ground and I could see that its chest armour was heavily dented. What the frak is going on here?
The other MAAC was getting closer. I needed some answers and I needed them now! I pulled my MFC from my back and it flared as the L-Wave engine ignited it. I batted aside an attack and in a move that mimicked the move done by the bright MAAC, I parted the dark MAAC's head from its shoulders. The MAAC spurted dark red oil as it fell.
Unlike the dark MAACs, the bright one didn't try to attack me. Instead, it approached cautiously before sheathing its MFC. Wait a minute! Its MFC was not activated! How did it cut into the other MAAC?
With smoothly oiled precision, the brightly painted MAAC raised its hands to its head unit, grasped it, and then pulled upwards.
Long thick golden hair spewed out from under the head unit. As the hands holding the head unit lowered themselves down, a classically beautiful face confronted me.
"I thank thee for thy timely aid stranger. Might I have the name of my saviour?"
I was speechless. What I thought to be MAACs were actually people in armour! Where in Hadis was I? Or, more importantly, when was I?
"Of course! How rude of me. It is polite to introduce oneself first. I am Princess Gaya Tendrac'en of Camu. Now, may I see the face of my saviour?"
Princess Gaya! I think I have died. I truly think I have died. That, or I'm stuck in a coma and my body is lying in the Badlands somewhere. Still, I was filled with the urge to see Princess Gaya with my own eyes and not through the sensors of my MAAC. I cracked open my cockpit, undid my straps and stepped out onto the ledge that made up the lower half of my chest armour.
I cleared my throat nervously as I looked up and up and up into the face that had haunted my dreams for years. "I am Lieutenant R'Tus Penrag'n of the Royal Gayan Armed Forces and it is my deepest pleasure and honour to meet you."
It is difficult to say who had the more shocked expression: her or me!
Entry Paused
There was a loud beeping coming from Ivan's waist. L'Cor took his finger off the Pause button and watched as Ivan spoke quickly into his phone.
Ivan barked a short loud laugh and said, "Ah, you're here sooner than I hoped! Good! You picked them up right? Excellent! You got the pilot too? Better and better! I'll be there right away!"
Ivan put his phone back and turned to L'Cor. "We've got company. Those people I mentioned earlier are here and they've come bearing presents."
L'Cor was still a little dazed. He wanted to keep watching R'Tus's diary but the urgency of his current situation stopped him. "Is there a doctor among them?"
Ivan beamed. "Several in fact. One of them has already checked out Yoko and given her a clean bill of health. It seems that she'd been suffering from lack of sleep and that little knock on her noggin really put her out!"
L'Cor breathed a sigh of relief. He turned off the AV journal and put it back in his pocket. "I'm ready. Let's go meet your friends."
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Post by stamos65 on Mar 15, 2019 7:12:32 GMT -5
when i read the first part i thought there was gonna be an r/entitledparents story…I should really stop reading those
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Post by Koalabear on Mar 15, 2019 7:40:05 GMT -5
About 7 more chapters and then I'll tell you all my inspirations behind this story. If there is interest, I can post a couple of my other stories...but this is the only mech type story I ever wrote.
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Post by Koalabear on Mar 19, 2019 8:35:10 GMT -5
Posting 2 chapters at a time cause this is taking forever!
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Chapter 14 The Current Situation
Back in the main hangar, the entire room was a symphony of frenetic activity. Several large trucks had made their way down the long corridor and were busy trying to find parking spots. Several men and women were running around in what appeared to be chaotic activity. Many were gesturing at the contents of to huge flatbed trailers.
L'Cor was surprised to see two Grif'cen MAACs on two separate trailers. One of the Gif'cens was largely intact while the second had a large hole in the chest armour. Belatedly, he realized that these were the two MAACs that had attacked the Tournament players the previous day.
He looked around some more until he spotted a figure that made his heart skip a beat. Yoko was standing with an older version of herself and a younger version of Ivan. He made his way over and he felt a warm flush when Yoko's face brightened at the sight of him.
"Good morning sleeping beauty!" he said and he approached the little group. "I was worried to death about you but apparently, you were just catching up on your sleep!"
Yoko smiled. "Sorry if I worried you. I don't normally get much sleep and the last week has made it even worse." She hugged L'Cor briefly and when the hug was over, she kept her right arm wrapped around L'Cor's waist. "So, what've you been up to this morning?"
L'Cor wasn't sure how to answer that simple question so instead, he said, "Reconnecting with my past." He shook Jan's hand and then gently took Kasa's frail hand into his own for a moment.
Kasa had tired lines running down her face. Her scalp was covered in a thin layer of hair and she leaned against Jan for support. "It's too bad about the pirates. I had been looking forward to the match yesterday."
Jan put a protective arm around Kasa and said, "Come on sweetie, let's find a bed for you to lie down on."
"I'll come too!" said Yoko. She gave L'Cor a quick kiss on his cheek before waving good-bye.
L'Cor felt someone come up behind him and glanced quickly back at Ivan before saying, "I can't believe you got everyone here so quickly."
Ivan shrugged nonchalantly. "Hey, it wasn't my doing." He turned slightly and gestured to a man. The man saw the gesture and came over. "L'Cor, allow me to re-introduce you to Chief Willan. Of course these days, he's Police Chief Willan."
L'Cor recognized the older man and shook his hand. "Chief Willan. It is good to see you again. My brother had very fond memories of you."
Chief Willan looked startled and said, "Please, call me Alain. You're looking good L'Cor."
L'Cor gestured to the activity that was going on in the hangar. "How did you arrange all of this?
Alain gave him a modest smile. "It wasn't hard. See that man over there?"
L'Cor looked over and nodded. "Yeah, is he someone important?"
Alain chuckled. "That's the chief fire marshal and the man beside him is the head of the EMT union. A long time ago, over some beers and a deck of cards, the three of us along with Ivan here played around with scenarios. It was basically a bunch of âwhat if' scenarios actually. This here is just one of them. I'm somewhat surprised at how quickly everyone got together."
"After what happened to the local militia, I'm not," said Ivan flatly. "Come, I hear there's someone we should meet."
"This way," said Alain.
L'Cor followed Alain and Ivan until the trio came up to a man who was bound tightly in ropes. The ropes in turn were tied around a tall pillar that went all the way up to the ceiling. "Let me guess," said L'Cor. "This is the pilot of the Grif'cen that Yoko shot down."
"Shot down?" laughed Alain harshly. "Yoko barely scratched the paint! Our boy here panicked and ejected. He's lucky we picked him up so soon, otherwise, the radiation out there would've made him real sick."
The bound man didn't say anything but gave all of them a venomous look. "Who is he?" asked Ivan.
"Well, we took some fingerprints and retina scans and discovered that he is one Jona J. Jornah. He's an ex-militia pilot who used to fly patrol copters. My guess is that he didn't realize just how tough a MAAC really is and ejected when he got hit."
L'Cor shared a laugh with Ivan. "So," said Ivan in a voice that was full of mirth, "it's thanks to him that we have one almost intact Grif'cen. I can use parts from the other one to fix his up." Ivan glanced over at L'Cor. "What do you think L'Cor? Fancy trading in Phantom Crash for a MAAC?"
L'Cor didn't answer right away. Instead, he looked at the two MAACs lying in their respective flatbed trailers. He started walking towards them and stopped about twenty feet away. When Ivan and Alain joined him, he began to speak from half formed ideas. His recent experience with Micks was giving him an inspiration. "There isn't much difference between a Wyv'en and a Grif'cen, right?"
Both Ivan and Alain laughed as if it were a joke. "Only in basic fundamental design philosophies!" said Ivan after he had recovered.
"No, I mean their physical size and mass," said L'Cor distractedly. "The Grif'cen really only qualifies as a medium class MAAC because of the geometry shifting system right?"
Ivan nodded his head. "Go on L'Cor. Just spit out what you're thinking."
"R'Tus's Wyv'en has a command module. There really isn't all that much damage to it other than the jump jets and some cracked armour and blackened paint."
Alain opened his mouth to say something but Ivan shushed him with a raised hand. "Go on."
"Can you fix up his Wy'ven with parts from the damaged Grif'cen?"
"The jump jets on the Grif'cen are a little bigger than those of a Wyv'en, but I supposed I can jury rig it. But why fix it up at all when you have one relatively undamaged MAAC over there?"
L'Cor turned back to Ivan and said in a tone that was normally reserved for people who were a little slow on the uptake. "Because, this way, we would have two."
Ivan sighed deeply. "I can understand you wanting to use R'Tus's Wyv'en but we only have one MAAC pilot here you. If you take the Wyv'en, who's going to pilot the Grif'cen?"
"Simple," said L'Cor in a steady voice. "Yoko will."
That seemed to shock Ivan. "But she's not a MAAC pilot!"
"If I can learn to pilot a Mick, then she can learn to pilot a MAAC. It's not that huge a leap. And if I'm right about her, and I really think I am, she'll be just as good, if not better than R'Tus ever was. Not only that, as we capture more MAACs, we can start training the other Tournament players and getting them properly outfitted."
"Wait a minute! You're going to send kids out against those killers?" Ivan looked furious.
Alain touched his shoulder and said, "Hold up there Ivan. I think L'Cor's got a point. Towards the end of the war there, I noticed a definite increase in skill level amongst the younger pilots. No one ever came close to R'Tus, but the younger pilots certainly did have a knack. That's the same knack as what allows the players to be so good with Micks."
"R'Tus was a natural Ivan. I think Yoko is too."
Ivan's face showed his conflicting emotions. Having Yoko participate in a dangerous game where she could get hurt and maybe die was one thing. However, sending her out against ruthless pirates who have already shown their willingness and eagerness to kill was another.
"Ivan, there's something else you should consider," said Alain quietly. "If the Black Skull were simply pirates, why didn't they just hit the banks and then run? Why hold the city hostage?"
Realization dawned on L'Cor at the same time as Ivan. "That's why they're making the Mick companies produce MAACs! They're not pirates at all!"
Ivan continued the same line of thought as he said, "They already have a division's worth of MAACs. With enough, they'll be able to challenge the Royal Gayan Armed Forces. If they continue to hold cities hostage, they can make Empress Dana give up the throne!"
Alain nodded his head firmly. "They're not pirates at all. They're revolutionaries!"
*
"This outfit is really tight! Are you sure you don't have ulterior motives for wanting me to put this on?" asked Yoko as she examined herself in the mirror. She was currently twisting her body so that she could check out her profile.
From behind, L'Cor had to swallow a thick lump in his throat before he could answer. "Not at all, although, I must say, I do admire the view!"
Yoko laughed playfully. "Stop that you dirty old man!" Instead of covering up though, Yoko slapped her butt and giggled when she saw L'Cor's eyebrows shoot up. "This suit feels kind of tingly thoughâ¦are you sure it's clean?"
"It's not from that pilot you shot down if that's what you mean. No, Ivan had stored a couple in this facility way back when. That tingly sensation is just the suit getting to know you."
"Eeek! You mean it's alive?" Yoko moved her hands up to her neck, fully prepared to tear off the neural suit.
"No! Keep it on! It's not alive but the built in AI needs to analyze your body rhythms in order to fully calibrate itself to your body.
Yoko pouted and said, "Are you sure you just don't want to see me like this?"
L'Cor laughed. "Believe me, I saw plenty during the war!" L'Cor laughed even harder as Yoko's expression darkened. He quickly placated her by saying, "But none were quite as lovely as you!"
Yoko sniffed like she wasn't entirely convinced. "By the way, when are you going to put one on?"
"Right after I put you through the MAAC simulator. Come on." L'Cor beckoned with his hand and Yoko followed him out of the small change room. As they walked through the corridors, L'Cor explained his plan.
"Ivan tells me that both the Grif'cens we captured are stock models. They've never been used before. The pirates must have broken into a depot or something. Anyway, whoever is maintaining them did not change any of the default settings in the computers."
"I know that," said Yoko a little impatiently. "I was there when Ivan said it, remember?"
"Right, but what he didn't say and what you probably don't know is that my brother R'Tus's Wyv'en is here in this facility."
"What? I thought R'Tus died in a thernuke explosion!"
"So did I. I don't know all the answers yet, especially how his MAAC got hereâ¦butâ¦" L'Cor drifted off as he started to think about R'Tus's AV journal. He was anxious to get back to it and the answers it held but he also knew that he had to use his time wisely in the current crisis. One thing at a time, he promised himself.
"Hello, Gaya to L'Cor!"
L'Cor snapped out of his reverie and smiled at Yoko. "Sorry about that. You sound just like R'Tus sometimes. Speaking of Gaya, did you know that my family is distantly related to the royal family?"
Yoko rolled her eyes. "Yours, and about ten thousand other families!"
L'Cor chuckled. There certainly was no shortage of potential heirs to the throne! "No, I'm mean seriously! Look, my last name is Penrag'n, right?"
"Yeahâ¦so what?"
"Look, before Princess Gaya became Empress Gaya the First, what was her last name?"
"That's easy," scoffed Yoko. "It was Tendra'cen. Are you saying that Tendra'cen eventually became Penrag'n? That's quite a stretch buddy! If you're trying to impress me, you have to do better."
L'Cor sighed theatrically. "Ok, fine, so it is a stretch. How about this: do you know why her last name was Tendrac'en?"
Yoko shrugged. "It's just a name, right?"
L'Cor smiled broadly. At last! Something to impress Yoko with! "Gaya's grandfather founded the dynasty. Lord Tendrac'en was an orphan boy in the old royal family's court. His father had been a courtier who had been killed in a duel that the old King endorsed. Anyway, Lord Tendrac'en was stripped of his name and eventually he left the court. When he left, he swore vengeance. He made his way to the mountains near Camu and he picked up some followers along the way. He was the first to capture and tame wild drac'en and eventually, with only ten drac'en, he charged through the old King's castle in Camu. The drac'en moved so fast that archers could not get good shots. Their jaws and teeth were so deadly that normal infantry could not get close. In one fateful hour, he made his way with his force through the castle and finally broke into the castle's main hall. There, he confronted the old King and killed him. With ten near wild drac'en at his control, no one dared to challenge him. He declared himself king and took the name Tendrac'en."
Yoko's face appeared somewhat dreamy as she pictured the scene in her mind. "I've seen tame drac'en in zoos. I sure wouldn't want to go near a wild one either."
"Lord Tendrac'en immediately saw the value of a whole army mounted upon drac'en and he spent the rest of his life building Camu into a city nation to be reckoned with. Camu was always a small nation with a small population, but its mounted knights were second to none."
"Wow, I am impressed. How did you know that?"
L'Cor shrugged nonchalantly. "My father was a bit of a history buff."
The pair soon came upon a large room filled with computer equipment. There were several spherical structures in the room and L'Cor directed Yoko to one of them. "Here, this is a MAAC simulator. Go ahead and sit on the seat."
Yoko approached the machine and then turned back to L'Cor. "What seat? There's only that tiny triangle thing. It doesn't look very comfortable."
"It's not but you'll get used to it. Come on, don't be a baby!"
Yoko blew out a loud breath and stepped into the machine. She sat on the triangle seat and grimaced as she put her weight on it; "Ok, now what?"
L'Cor went to the computer beside the simulator and began to type in commands. "Ok, the terminal is online. Put your feet into those sockets and slowly transfer your weight."
Yoko did as she was told and slipped her feet into two long boot-like structures. She winced as she slowly transferred her weight. "Dagnag-it! I've got a wedgy like you wouldn't believe!"
"I can help with that," said L'Cor with a leering grin.
"You keep you hands to yourself, you dirty old man!" As discreetly as she could, Yoko shifted the neural suit until it rested comfortably on her shapely behind. Then, without any prompting from L'Cor, she slipped her hands into the two sleeve-like objects in front of her.
"Good, now wait while I power up the simulator program." L'Cor typed some commands in and soon, a hologram projected itself out from his computer terminal. It was a 3-D representation of a MAAC and it was currently standing up. "Ok, I'm releasing control to you in 3â¦2â¦1. Now!"
The hologram wavered and Yoko suddenly found herself unsupported. "Whoa! How do youâ¦" The image of the MAAC suddenly fell backward and landed on its rear. "Ouch!" Yoko fell back onto the triangular seat hard. "Oh frak! I bet I have another wedgy!"
L'Cor laughed hard and when Yoko shot him a dirty look, he laughed even harder. "Look, the secret is to not move. You have to pretend to move. The neural suit does all the work. When you pretend to move, your body can't help but to move ever so slightly. The suit will analyze your body's subtle movements and transfer them to the MAAC."
Yoko gave up on her dirty look as a look of concentration came over her face. The holo image of the MAAC moved slowly until it was standing on it's feet.
"Good!"
Yoko's face beaded with sweat as she tried to hold the standing position. After a moment though, she faltered and the MAAC fell face first. The simulator imitated the image by suddenly spinning Yoko until she was horizontal and facing the ground. "Oh frak!" swore Yoko with feeling. "You didn't tell me about this part!"
"You're doing great for a first timer Yoko! Don't worry; I ended up worse than you on my first trip in the simulator! Here, maybe this will help." L'Cor typed in some more commands and he was rewarded by a startled yelp from Yoko.
"What did you do? Now I can see the ground and grass and stuffâ¦I feel like I'm in a VR sim game!"
"Actually," said L'Cor casually. "That entire market was pioneered from the MAAC simulator. The heads-up-display on the simulator is actually a holo-projector. I figured the reference to the ground would help your mind relax and get its bearings."
Yoko flexed her arms experimentally. The MAAC image pushed itself up in response. "Yeah, it does help. Let's see ifâ¦" The image projected by L'Cor's computer slowly stood up. "Yes! I did it!" Yoko flexed her legs and the image of the MAAC took a shaky step. It took another one and then another one. With each successive step, the image began to walk more stably and confidently.
L'Cor type more commands in and soon, the MAAC was walking around virtual obstacles. L'Cor couldn't help marvelling at how quickly Yoko was picking this up. He may have been right about her after all.
"You were saying something about R'Tus's Wyv'en earlier?" Said Yoko.
"Oh, yesâ¦my master plan. Well, R'Tus was a quad leader beforeâ¦beforeâ¦anyway, yes, he was a quad leader. That meant that he had a command module installed. The purpose of the command module is to monitor the other MAACs in the quad. If necessary, a quad leader can take control of one of his subordinate's MAACs."
"So you're going to get close to the pirate MAACs and then force the pilots to eject?"
"In a nutshell, yes. You're going to be the bait. The pirates might not know that their Grif'cens were captured so they might not shoot at you right away."
"Might?"
"Don't worry; a Grif'cen is no ordinary MAAC. Here, enough with the walking and running. Time to fly!" L'Cor typed into his keyboard and the image of the MAAC trainer disappeared. In its place was the image of a stoop shouldered MAAC with a hunched profile. "Hit the button under your baby finger."
Yoko complied and immediately yelled, "What the frak?"
"The Grif'cen is the only MAAC with a geometry shifting system. It can convert between humanoid and air assault modes. In the air assault mode, the jump jets on the back as well as the extra ones in the legs work in concert to propel the machine forward. You can sit down on the seat and use your right arm as a joystick and use your left arm to control air speed. Much like a aircraft in fact."
Yoko grunted and said, "Well, I don't want another wedgy and I've never flown an aircraft in my life. Isn't there another option?"
"Well, technically yes. However, hardly anyone uses it."
"Just tell me what it is!"
"Ok, brace yourself and touch the button under your left baby finger."
"Whoa!" The simulator rotated Yoko once more until she was horizontal with the ground. "I think I like this much better!"
"Basically, you control the MAAC with body movements. Just "
"Weeee! I love this!" Whatever L'Cor was going to say was lost in Yoko's exuberance. L'Cor watched the holo image and was amazed at how fast Yoko was intuitively learning the controls for the Grif'cen in air assault mode.
Like most MAAC pilots, L'Cor had barely tolerated the air assault mode of the Grif'cen and only used it when he had to move from point A to point B quickly. However, L'Cor had already seen Yoko not only move faster and with greater agility than any other Grif'cen pilot, but he had also seen her perform manoeuvres that were thought impossible with a Grif'cen.
"I feel like a bird!" exclaimed Yoko. She had a big bright smile on her face as she soared through the VR landscape.
Without a word, L'Cor increased the difficulty of the simulator. The open grasslands disappeared and were replaced by a large city. Yoko took the change in stride as she zipped through the cityscape. A large building suddenly appeared in front of her and she swung the simulated Grif'cen's legs down and retro-boosted. She dodged around the building while riding her leg boosters and when she was clear, pushed her legs back and hit her afterburner.
L'Cor watched in amazement as Yoko went ballistic. The Grif'cen in air assault mode was not considered an air superiority fighter by any means due to the bulky profile presented by its armoured form. At the same time though, the advent of hyper velocity cannons and lasers had all but made the air superiority fighter obsolete. Unlike regular jet fighters though, the Grif'cen could take a few hits and still continue to fight. With a pilot like Yoko at the controls, L'Cor knew the Grif'cen or even a tri-quad of Grif'cens would be a force to be reckoned with. He knew he would have to bring this up with Ivan as soon as possible.
Though it was much too soon to be contemplating major revisions to the Grif'cen MAAC, perhaps Ivan and Alain could put their heads together and upgrade the Grif'cen that Yoko would take into battle.
Yoko swooped back down towards the ground and hit the conversion button while in mid-air. The holo image of the Grif'cen writhed and shifted until it landed on its feet in humanoid mode.
"What a rush! When can I try it for real?"
"Not so fast little lady! First of all, you can't do stuff like that out there. The possibility that you'll be spotted is too high. Second of all, I need to talk to Ivan and Alain first. I'm sure that they can do something to squeeze more performance out of that Grif'cen.
"Why?" asked Yoko as she began to unhook herself from the simulator.
"Because you just blew away all previous records!" L'Cor could feel his excitement rise as he considered the possibilities. Just like how the ancient Lord Tendrac'en had revolutionized warfare by introducing mounted knights on drac'ens, L'Cor could feel that another revolutionary change was just around the corner.
Yoko stepped up to him and her excitement was obvious. Her face was flushed and damp from her sweat. L'Cor felt a hot wave of emotion sweep through his body. Yoko was possibly one of the best natural MAAC pilots he had ever seen. Not even R'Tus had handled a Grif'cen the way Yoko just had. His eyes met hers in a hot stare and without a word she stepped into his arms. She pulled his head down to meet her lips halfway as they shared a kiss that was full of fire and passion.
When L'Cor tasted her tongue upon his, he suddenly lost all control. He pushed her arms aside and reached for the neck clasp of her neural suit. He expertly popped the clasp and pulled the neural suit wide open. Yoko's naked glory was suddenly revealed to him.
Yoko suddenly gasped loudly. "Iâ¦I can'tâ¦not like this! I'm sorry!" She pulled her neural suit tight, pulled out of L'Cor's arms and ran out of the room.
Chapter 15 The Wizard
Later that night, L'Cor retired to his room, which was just off the main hangar. R'Tus's Wyv'en had been taken from its secret room and techs were swarming over the machine. L'Cor watched the activity briefly before closing the makeshift drapes. Thinking of the Wyv'en reminded him that he still had a lot of unanswered questions. Besides, it beat thinking about what had happened earlier that day with Yoko. He cursed himself for a fool for letting the situation get out of hand and for his lack of control. He vowed to track down Yoko first thing in the morning so that he could apologize.
He pulled out R'Tus's diary and hit the play button.
Entry Resumed
I must be dreaming. No, wait, I know I'm dreaming. I had just spent the last couple of hours walking through dreamland. First there was that battle if it could be called that in the woods where I rescued Princess Gaya from what could have only been Mordue Hunters. Those horned helms were unmistakable.
After the fight, Princess Gaya recovered a drac'en and expertly mounted it. She put the drac'en into a loping run as I jogged my Wyv'en beside her. We continued a rather strange conversation in which she gave me a little bit of history on what was happening.
The problem was, I already knew most of what she was talking about. Almost word for word of what she was relaying to me was taken right out of my book History of Royal Gaya. This, of course, only perpetuated my belief that this was all a wild hallucination and I was lying somewhere in a thernuke blasted environment, slowly dying of radiation poisoning.
Princess Gaya had a strange accent. She had some problems in pronouncing my name. At one point during our travels, she changed subject and said, "My apologies Erthus, but this may sound rude but did thy father not like thee when he gave thee this name?"
Her tone was honestly inquisitive so I didn't mind. I get this a lot and I know L'Cor and Q'Wen have it even harder. "Not rude at all Princess. I was named forâ¦" Oh great. How do I tell her that I was named for someone in my past but her present? "Well, my father was not very imaginative. I must have fallen in a pile of dirt so my father named me for the colour black."
To my surprise, Princess Gaya laughed. "Surely thou jest!"
"Yes of course! To be honest, I do not know for sure why my father would give me this name."
Princess Gaya thought for moment. "Erthus is a very archaic word for black. Why not just call thee black?"
It would seem that Gaya had a very practical and literal mind. "Perhaps he wanted to be artistic?"
Princess Gaya snorted in a very unladylike way. "Pah! Art is for fools who have more time on their hands than they know to do with. I cannot introduce thee at court as Erthus. Thou art a warrior not an artist."
That stung a little bit, as I have always liked writing poetry in my spare time. Oh well, this was just a dream right? Maybe it was a part of my subconscious that didn't like my own poetry! "What about using my last name?"
She glanced at me with an unreadable expression on her face. "I think not. My grandfather founded the current ruling family in Camu. However, before he became Lord Tendrac'en, his father was killed in a duel and he was stripped of his name and titles. The man who killed my great grandfather was named Penrag'n. It is not a name to inspire trust and friendship in Camu."
That stunned me. I had always thought that my last name was a 「illegitimate child」ization of Tendrac'en and that somehow, Princess Gaya and I were distantly related
"Until I can speak with my wizard Malin in private, I shall refer to thee as Sir Black."
Sir Black? I suddenly stopped in my tracks. Is this a dream? In all of my fondest fantasies as a child, I had always made myself up as the Black Knight. Was this just another aspect of my fantasy?
Princess Gaya had paused as well and she was looking at me inquisitively. I started walking forward again. I suppose I could play along for now. If this were a dream, then I will be dead soon anyway. I might as well enjoy it for as long as possible.
The only problem with this scenario is that I have never fantasized myself as being only slightly bigger than Gaya's hand.
*
I'm not sure what I expected of Camu. Modern day Camu is a huge sprawling city with a population larger than some provinces. What do you expect of the capital of an entire world?
Historic Camu though, was a fortified town. I had read stories that before Lord Tendrac'en took the throne; the previous royal family had never bothered with fortifying the town that existed just outside of the castle walls. One of the first things that Lord Tendrac'en did was to build enormous stonewalls that surrounded not only the town proper, but also much of the outlying fields that grew the crops that fed the town. This action did much to increase his popularity among the commoners.
Many cynical critics have said that Lord Tendrac'en's motivations were purely selfish and that he only fortified the town because he didn't want someone to do what he had done, i.e., storm the castle with a small fast force.
I tend to disagree though. After the town was fortified, Lord Tendrac'en proceeded to fortify the other towns and towns that paid tribute to Camu. Building fortifications is an expensive endeavour but Lord Tendrac'en hired out his mounted knights to neighbouring kingdoms and the Knights of Camu became a recognized name in warfare.
Many of these small kingdoms enjoyed the protection of the mounted knights so much that they willingly became part of a greater Camu.
Gaya carefully led the way through the crowed town. There were people everywhere but they all inclined their heads in respect as Gaya rode past. The townsfolk appeared to be well fed and in good health. Obviously they have not suffered under the current reign. I got a few curious looks but no one bothered me. I guess on the outside, my Wyv'en did look like an armoured man especially in its current shrunken state.
We were met at the castle gates by an old man. Gaya treated this man with a great deal of respect so I guess that this was the wizard Malin that she had spoken of. They spoke quietly for a bit with some inquisitive glances thrown my way. I suppose I could have increased the volume of my external microphones to the point that I could eavesdrop on them but that would have been rude. Besides, it didn't take a genius to know that they were talking about me.
The old man gestured with his hands and Gaya dismounted. She handed the reins to a stable hand and beckoned to me. Together, the three of us entered the castle. We walked through several corridors until we reached a large wooden door. The old man opened the door and we made our way inside.
Once the door shut behind us, the old man began to speak. "I am the wizard Malin. May I see the man behind the armour?"
I popped my cockpit hatch, unstrapped myself and stepped out. I thought I would see a shocked expression on the wizard's face but I was disappointed. "My name is R'Tus Pen-"
Malin held up a hand and interrupted me. "I know who thou art. I have agreed with Gaya that for as long as thou art here, thou will be referred to as Sir Black. Penrag'n is not a name that should be spoken of here within these walls."
"Why?" I asked. However, the old man did not answer. I thought that it was because I was so small that he had trouble hearing me so I cupped my mouth and shouted, "Why?"
Malin looked a little angry when he said, "No need to shout boy. I can hear thee just fine. The same magic that keeps thee small allows thy voice to be heard as if thou were normal sized."
Magic? Did he say magic?
Gaya pulled up a large chair and helped Malin to sit. He gave her a grateful pat on her hand and then suddenly coughed harshly. Gaya rushed to the other side of the room for a couple of seconds before returning with a large mug of dark liquid. "Thank you my dear. Now, go get thyself cleaned up. I am sure thou wouldst want to bathe before thy meeting with thy father."
Gaya kissed the old man on his cheek before heading for the door. As she opened it, she turned and gave me a small uncertain smile. Before I could reciprocate though, she vanished through the door.
When I looked back at Malin, I could see that he was staring at me with eyes that seemed to know too much. "You know something," I said. "Tell me what's going on. How am I here? Is this a dream? Why is my name hated in Camu?"
Malin chuckled and drank from his mug. "So many questions but only one answer!"
That made no sense at all! How could all my questions only have one answer? I was beginning to feel a little impatient. This old man knew what had happened to me and he was playing games! "What's the answer?" I demanded.
Malin looked amused at my outburst. "Thou art here because we need thee, oh great warrior. Thou art here because I saved thy life and brought thee to this place."
"Why? Why did you do it?"
"To right a wrong," he said simply.
I was about to start off with another series of questions but held up his hand again. Strangely, I felt an urge to pipe down and listen to what he had to say.
"Before Lord Tendrac'en became King of Camu, he was known as Galad son of Gawan Pelader. Gawan was a knight in King Groken's guard and he had a comrade in arms named Wayan Penrag'n. Now Gawan and Wayan were good friends the best in fact. The fought together, wenched together and got drunk together. They shared everything until the day they met Y'vain Morda from the Mordue nation. She was breathtakingly beautiful.
Her father, Emperor Morda announced that he wished to create an alliance with Camu and offered Y'vain as a prize. He set up a tournament for all of Camu's knights and said that whoever won the tournament would win Y'vain's hand in marriage.
Gawan and Wayan competed fiercely for both of them had fallen in love with Y'vain. They defeated all of the opponents and in the end had to face each other. Their duel was long and brutal moreso because it was not a duel to the death. In the end, both men were battered and bruised but King Groken declared Wayan the winner.
After the tournament, both men seemed to have repaired their friendship. Gawan was even Wayan's best man at the wedding ceremony. That was only on the surface though. Deep down, Gawan always resented Wayan for winning Y'vain and Wayan became intensely suspicious of Gawan.
Eventually though, Gawan met another woman, fell in love and married her. She bore him a son Galad. In due time, when Galad was ten orbits old, Y'vain also became pregnant. However, Wayan never overcame his suspicious nature. He publicly accused Gawan for getting Y'vain pregnant. He challenged Gawan to a duel to the death and King Groken endorsed the duel.
During the duel, Wayan severely injured Gawan and was about to kill him when Gawan's wife ran out onto the field in a desperate attempt to save him. Wayan heartlessly cut her down before dispatching Gawan. Poor Galad watched both of his parents die.
King Groken allowed young Galad to live in the castle but his name and title were stripped from him and he became a common boy. Two orbits later, Galad left the castle and returned three orbits after that with ten drac'en under his command. The rest, I'm sure you know."
Malin paused to taken another long gulp from his mug. I digested his story and began to piece it together with things that I remembered from my book. "After Lord Tendrac'en took the throne, he officially banished Y'vain, right? Sir Wayan did not survive the attack on the castle and neither did King Groken."
Malin said nothing but stared at me intently. I felt like a student who had to put together a puzzle by myself. I continued to speak, "Lord Tendrac'en never intended to take the throne. That was not why he attacked the castle. He wanted justice for what was done to his parents. That was why the only people who actually died in the attack were King Groken and Sir Wayan. It was not his father who got Y'vain pregnant. It was King Groken!"
Malin smiled encouragingly but said nothing. I took that as my cue to continue. I began to pace a bit on the cockpit hatch of my MAAC and I spoke my thoughts out loud. "After the attack, Y'vain and her five orbit old son were nowhere to be found. She and her son had disappeared. In fact, they eventually made their way to the Mordue Empire."
I suddenly stopped in my tracks because I remembered something else. After King Tendrac'en took the throne, Emperor Morda declared the treaty between Mordue and Camu to be void and then he declared war upon Camu. He had vowed to depose the usurper and put his grandson on the throne as the rightful king. Because of the vast distances involved and the lack of fast transport, the war had lasted for a very long time.
"It was all a plot! Emperor Morda wanted to control Camu so he offered his daughter as a prize. During the tournament, he was able to assess the strengths and fighting prowess of the knights. Then, as a way to further control the kingdom, Y'vain seduced King Groken and became pregnant with his son."
Again, Malin just smiled at me and didn't say a word. I got the feeling that I was right though. There was still something missing though and I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
Malin suddenly stood up and walked over to me. I craned my head up so that I could see his face as he looked down at me. "I used up most of my magic to bring you here. The war against the Mordue is approaching the last stages. After this war is won, Princess Gaya will need your help in uniting the rest of the continent."
"Me? Why me?"
He narrowed his eyes stared down with a somewhat scary expression. I felt as if those eyes were burning right through me. I could hear a roaring in my ears and I almost missed what he said next.
"Because you are the Black Knight. You are the Champion of Camu. I brought you back in time so that you could fulfil your destiny!"
"But I can't be the Black Knight! He is just a fictitious character in a story! I am Captain R'Tus Penrag'n of the Royal Gayan Armed Forces. The orbit is 3016 and I am very likely dying a slow painful death. This is all just a hallucination!"
Malin bent down until his face was right in front of me. His gigantic eyes seemed to look right through me. "Are you sure?"
The enormity of his words, plus the fact that I was exhausted both mentally and physically took their toll. Those words were the last thing I remember before I blacked out. Enough of this for now. I need to rest!
End of Entry
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Post by Koalabear on Mar 20, 2019 7:53:42 GMT -5
Chapter 16 First Strike
Over the course of the next couple of days, L'Cor found himself avoiding Yoko as much as possible. He felt like such a total schmuck for letting his hormones get the best of him. He had obviously misread her intentions and taken advantage of a young woman who was not in the least bit attracted to a lecherous old man. His feelings for her were undeniable but he was man enough to know that if she didn't return those feelings, then he would do nothing to press his attentions.
The day came though, when he could avoid her no longer. Ivan and Alain had finished repairing both Yoko's Grif'cen and R'Tus's Wyv'en and had called him to meet them in the main hangar. L'Cor stepped out of his room and nearly bumped into Yoko. She had her hand raised as if to knock on his door.
His face must have shown his confusion because she gave him a shy uncertain smile.
"I'm sorry!" they said to each other at the same time.
The strange silence afterward was broken by chuckles as they both realized that they had both apologized at the same time. L'Cor raised a hand and said, "I'm sorry Yoko. I shouldn't have taken advantage of you like that the other day."
Yoko reached up, grabbed his hand with her left hand and then placed a finger on his lips with her right. "Shhh...I'm the one who's sorry. I realized that I've been leading you on. I really do like you, but there's something you should know about me."
L'Cor liked the way Yoko's hand felt on his and he slowly lowered his hand without breaking contact. "It doesn't matter Yoko. I like you just the way you are. There's nothing you can say that will make me like you less."
Yoko beamed at him with a bright smile. She was about to say something else but L'Cor forestalled her with a finger to her lips. "Let me finish! I need to be honest with you before my nerve runs out." His heart was thundering in his chest as he took a deep breath and said, "Yoko, I'm in love with you. I never thought that I could love someone...heck, I never thought that I would be capable of love, but I know deep down, that I love you. At the same time though, I know that you don't love me. How could you? I'm just a faded old man. I should never have taken advantage of you that day. I just wanted to let you know that it's ok that you don't love me back. We have a mission to do and we can work together on that until it's done."
He continued to ramble on until Yoko stood on her toes and planted a full-blooded kiss on his mouth effectively shutting him up. His heart suddenly seemed to race even faster as his blood roared through his body. His body threatened to run out of control again and he put a firm hand around his feelings and gently pulled away from Yoko. "What "
Yoko giggled and said, "You big lug! I've been trying to tell you how I feel for over a week now! I love you too!"
"You do?"
"Yes! I'm really sorry about the other day in the simulator room. I got kind of carried away myself."
"But why? Why...how could you love me?"
"Because you are my knight," said Yoko simply. "Every girl secretly dreams of being rescued by a knight in shining armour. You've been my knight ever since that night in the alley."
L'Cor rocked back on his heels as he tried to digest what she had said. She loved him! Suddenly, he felt delirious as if he were a teenage boy once more. She loved him! He felt like throwing back his head and shouting that simple fact to the heavens above. But he didn't.
"Then...the other day..."
"Why did I run away?"
He nodded his head hesitantly and was surprised when Yoko blushed, a deep red. She leaned up and whispered softly in his ear.
"Because I'm a virgin."
Suddenly, everything became clear to L'Cor. "You...this...is all new to you, isn't it?"
Yoko's face retained her blush as she nodded. "Being the champion means that I don't socialize very much. Between my fights, managing the apartment building and looking after Kasa, I don't have much time. I never thought I'd ever feel this way until I saw you barrelling into my attackers that night." She kissed him on his cheek and then whispered in his ear once more, "I do want you, very much. But I'm also a hopeless romantic. I don't want my first time to be a rushed heated romp in the simulator room. I want it to be special."
L'Cor wrapped his arms around her and marvelled at how tiny she seemed. "I'll make it special," he promised and sealed the deal with a kiss.
That kiss led to another and then to another and L'Cor had to fight with himself to not pull Yoko back into his room and break his promise right then and there. After several minutes, he managed to pull himself away and said, "Let's get to the main hangar shall we?"
Yoko nodded her agreement. She took his hand firmly in her own as they walked through the corridors that led to the main hangar.
As they entered, they saw Ivan and Alain in the centre in front of two upright MAACs. One was painted black while the other one retained the original mottled pirate paint job.
Ivan raised his head as they approached. He raised an eyebrow as he noted their joined hands but he made no comment. Instead, he said, "Glad you could join us. We've got a lot to cover and not a lot of time."
Alain took over and said, "Yoko, the Grif'cen is yours. This is the one that you shot down the day of the attack. We fixed it up with parts from the one that L'Cor took down and now you have one complete Grif'cen. Not only that, we took the data that L'Cor gave us from your simulator session and made some modifications."
Yoko glanced at L'Cor before asking, "What kinds of modifications?"
"Nothing major," said Alain quickly, "Mostly to the neural feedback system. It's now much more sensitive than before; so the machine can now react to your movements faster. Also, we've fine tuned the mechanical muscles so that it should be able to keep up with you better."
Ivan snorted as if from a private joke. "Don't let Alain fool you Yoko! He spent the better part of the last two days fine tuning this machine. What he's trying to tell you in a round about way is that you will be able to move faster and smoother than normal MAAC pilots."
"And that's important because?" asked Yoko curiously.
L'Cor chuckled softly and placed a hand on Yoko's shoulder. "Think of it like this. When a person puts on a neural suit, the neural suit transfers the pilot's motions to the MAAC right?"
Yoko nodded her head so L'Cor forged ahead. "Because of the physical separation between pilot and machine, there's always that small hesitation in the machine's movements. What Alain has done is to reduce that hesitation...kind of like putting a whole bunch of motor oil in the joints of the machine."
"Ah, I get it now."
L'Cor looked at Alain and said, "R'Tus used to comment that when he had you as a crew chief, his Wyv'en performed better than it ever had. You fine tuned his MAAC, didn't you?"
Alain nodded and laughed. "That boy was amazing. The only thing that could have made him better was a direct neural link to the MAAC. Sometimes I think he must have on some level blended in with his machine."
L'Cor turned back to Yoko and said, "It's kind of hard to explain, but I've seen R'Tus in action. He moved his MAAC as normally as a regular human would move his or her own body. I've seen you do the same thing in the simulator."
That seemed to surprise Yoko. "You mean that I'm as good as your brother was? That's saying a lot based upon all the stuff I've heard about him." She looked at L'Cor and said, "I looked him up these past couple of days. He was a legend in the military, wasn't he? Some people even compared his combat skills with those of the Black Knight."
Both L'Cor and Ivan suddenly coughed and shifted around uncomfortably. "Yeah, there's only about two thousand years difference between them," said L'Cor sardonically. "Anyway, I think you have the potential to be just as good as or better than R'Tus ever was."
"Really?" Yoko seemed genuinely impressed as she thought it over.
Meanwhile, L'Cor looked back to Ivan and said, "Ok, how about my ride?"
Ivan shrugged and said, "Wasn't too much that needed fixing. Whatever the force that kept his MAAC in stasis also kept it from the ravages of time. The only real damage that R'Tus sustained was to his jump jets. Everything else was pretty much cosmetic. I patched up the armour and gave it a fresh coat of paint."
This time, it was Alain's turn to snort as if from a private joke. "Don't be so modest Ivan!" Alain turned to L'Cor and said, "I never would have thought it possible but I guess Ivan's years as a Mick mechanic really helped him to come through on this one. He took the jump jets from that other Grif'cen and put them on your brother's Wyv'en. Just remember that when you boost, you're going to get a much bigger kick!"
"Wait, wait, wait!" shouted Yoko. "You mean to tell me that that other MAAC there belonged to R'Tus? The R'Tus that supposedly died in the war?"
When all three men nodded in unison, Yoko said incredulously, "Oh come on! You guys don't expect me to believe that somehow The Whiz Kid survived that thernuke blast and then brought his MAAC here...wait a minute, how is that even possible? What the frak is going on?"
L'Cor hugged Yoko tightly and then kissed her forehead. "It's a long story Yoko. I'm not even sure I understand it myself!"
Yoko pulled away and said, "You better explain this one to me buster!"
L'Cor held his hands up in a placating gesture. "I will! I promise, just not right now!" Before Yoko could say anything else, he turned back to Ivan and Alain and said, "So the plan can work?"
Ivan grimaced and said, "Yes but only once or twice. After that, the pirates will smarten up."
"Wait, what plan? You mean the one where I act as bait while L'Cor forces the pirates to eject?"
L'Cor nodded and said, "Yes, but at the first sign of trouble, you convert to air mode and get the hell out of there."
"And leave you behind? You're crazy!"
"Look Yoko, I'm a veteran ace remember? I've fought in MAACs for a long time. I can handle it!"
"Not alone you won't!"
"No, it's too dangerous!"
"What happened to all the talk about how I'm the next R'Tus Penrag'n? I can fight! I'm the champion of the Tournament remember?"
"The Tournament is a game played by somewhat civilized rules. These are merciless bandits who've already shown that they're not afraid to blow away their opposition!"
"I've killed in the Tournament too and so have you! How is that different?"
As the argument heated up, Ivan and Alain traded amused looks and quietly left the couple to their debate.
***
Later, L'Cor was still shaking his head in wonderment. When had he lost the argument? He hadn't wanted to give Yoko live weapons so that her only choice would be to run if the plan didn't work. However in the end, she ended up getting her way. Her Grif'cen was armed with a pair of medium auto-cannons while L'Cor stood completely motionless under several sheets of OC.
Yoko was pacing her MAAC back and forth while broadcasting a general SOS on what they had hoped was the pirates' frequency. They had picked downtown Old Neomar because it was far from the Neomar Institute of Mobile Havoc and because there were a large number of intact buildings that they could use for cover.
The wait was starting to get on L'Cor's nerves though. Due to the critical nature of their mission, they had to maintain radio silence so he couldn't call out to Yoko to see how she was doing. More importantly, he couldn't call Yoko to apologise for the argument. R'Tus was right. L'Cor did have a strong need to reach out and protect the ones that he loved. Even his decision to come to Neomar to fight in the Tournament had been a way to protect his sister Q'Wen from being caught up in his self-destructing tendencies. Meeting Yoko and making new friends in New Neomar had gone a long way to reverse those tendencies though.
L'Cor idly wondered what kind of MAACs the pirates would send to investigate. His curiosity was soon rewarded when his sensors picked up a dull roar that was growing louder. As the pair of MAACs flew into view, he muttered a curse. Grif'cens! The pirates had sent Grif'cens! If things got ugly, then Yoko might not be able to get away. On the other hand, if the pirates decided to run, L'Cor wouldn't be able to catch them. He was pretty sure he could get one Grif'cen to eject its pilot, but he wasn't so sure he could catch the pilot unaware too.
As the pair of Grif'cens touched down and converted to ground mode, L'Cor realized that these MAACs could be part of the same quad that had attacked the Tournament players.
Yoko stopped pacing and turned to face the new arrivals. As they approached, L'Cor pulled his arms from their sockets and pushed a button that activated his command module. A small keyboard flipped up and he started to type on it while furiously hoping that his plan would work.
The pair of pirate MAACs halted and L'Cor could hear their chatter back and forth. At the moment, they were trying to contact Yoko's Grif'cen. Yoko was playing it cool and silent as per the plan. She waved her arms up to her head to imply that her communicator was busted.
One of the pirates took a step back and pulled an auto-cannon from the weapons rack on its back. L'Cor decided to target that one first. He finished typing his commands, aimed his targeting reticule onto the pirate and hit the Send key.
The pirate MAAC was just lining its auto-cannon up when its arm froze. A second later, the chest plate snapped open and a small human shaped figure was suddenly thrust out of the cockpit. L'Cor had a glimpse of the flailing figure before it plummeted to the ground. He didn't stop to admire his handiwork. He instantly targeted the other Grif'cen and began to type furiously once more.
The other Grif'cen spent a precious second to look at the dead body on the ground at its feet. Then it suddenly backpedalled. Its pilot could be heard on the all bands frequency crying for help.
L'Cor cursed as he typed. That had been the one hole in the plan. They had no way to jam communications. Yoko pulled her auto-cannons out and opened fire. The pirate ducked behind a large building and Yoko gave chase.
L'Cor gave up on his typing because the pirate was out of range. He brushed aside his OC and pulled his HVC from the weapons rack on his back. "Yoko! Wait!"
Yoko gave no reply. L'Cor caught a glimpse of her as her Grif'cen crashed through a building. She managed to score a few hits on the pirate but not enough to stop it. The pirate suddenly boosted down an empty street and then converted to air mode. It hit its afterburners and leapt into the sky.
"Yoko don't!" cried L'Cor helplessly. This was what he'd been afraid of!
Yoko's Grif'cen underwent a similar transformation and then thrusted up into the air. L'Cor hit his jump jets and boosted up into a vertical jump. He drew a bead on the pirate MAAC and fired his HVC. The pirate was already quite far away and it wasn't until his third shot that he managed to hit it.
From what he could see though, the hit didn't do any appreciative damage to the pirate. Instead, the pirate MAAC retro boosted, spun around and launched a flurry of missiles at Yoko's climbing Grif'cen.
L'Cor's heart was in his throat. There was no way for Yoko to avoid that many missiles!
Yoko's Grif'cen fired several flares and then converted in mid air. It rode its leg jets as both auto-cannons fired off hundreds of rounds at the oncoming missile storm.
L'Cor's jaw dropped as he watched Yoko's Grif'cen transform once more into air mode and boosted away. Not a single missile had managed to hit it.
A warning beep grabbed L'Cor's attention. During his distraction, he had continued to ride his jump jets until it was beyond the maximum safe landing height. Plus, he was almost out of jump jets juice. He quickly fired off some directional jets and managed to land on the roof on an old office building. He would have to rest here for several minutes until his jump jets had fully recharged. He brought up his HVC but he doubted that he would be able to participate much more in this battle.
***
Yoko loved the feeling of flying! From her perspective, it felt as if she were soaring through the sky on nothing but her own wings. She twitched her left hand and her Grif'cen obeyed by banking to the left. She spotted the pirate MAAC off in the distance and she flexed her ankles to engage her afterburners.
After much argument, she had finally gotten both Ivan and L'Cor to agree to have her Grif'cen armed. After the argument though, she had secretly asked Alain to put in a missile launcher too. Now, she was glad that she had. Her right ring finger pressed a button and a square-targeting box appeared on her HUD. She moved the square pip with her eyes until it covered the pirate Grif'cen. When the box turned red, she pressed her right ring finger again and four large missiles shot away from the right side of her MAAC.
The pirate Grif'cen was moving fast but the missiles moved even faster. The pirate pilot fired off some flares and then made a last ditch attempt to evade by diving. It was not enough. Two of the missiles hit the pirate Grif'cen and spun it out of control. It hit the ground hard and punched through several buildings before it skidded to a stop.
Yoko twitched her right hand and dipped her head. In response, her Grif'cen banked to the right and dove. As she approached the crashed pirate, she pressed down with her left baby finger and her Grif'cen shifted back to ground mode. She retro fired her leg jump jets at the last second and eased her Grif'cen into a gentle landing on its feet.
She pulled her auto-cannons out and targeted the downed pirate.
"I surrender! Please! Don't kill me!"
The sudden voice surprised Yoko. She had not expected this! She hesitated and the barrels of her auto-cannons dropped ever so slightly.
Something flashed from the pirate MAAC and Yoko felt a strong impact. Something crashed through her HUD and came to a stop several inched away from her combat harness. It was triangularly shaped and a faint blue glow was slowly fading from it. Belatedly, she realized that the pirate had just hit her with a MFC.
She blinked sharply and tried to pull her auto-cannons up. However, the MFC must have damaged some circuits because her arms moved very sluggishly. Also, the shattered HUD gave her a 「slow」 view of the pirate MAAC as it converted itself back into ground mode. It stood up on its feet and pulled another short MFC from the weapons rack at its waist.
"You stupid little runt!"
Yoko glanced at her communicator screen where a mean looking man was glaring at her.
"You dirty little 「female dog」! You thought you could take me down? After I'm through with you, The Black Skull is going to blow this place to Hadis!"
Yoko didn't reply. She worked her arms feverishly but couldn't get them to respond. She frantically backpedalled, but suddenly tripped on something and promptly fell down. She felt a tight hand of panic grip her throat as the pirate MAAC approached with the glowing MFC held high.
Suddenly, the pirate Grif'cen spun as if hit with something powerful. Before it could complete a full turn, something bright hit it and it started to turn in the other direction. More and more bright objects hit the pirate MAAC, making it dance around like a giant marionette.
Finally, the chest plate of the Grif'cen simply crumpled and the giant machine fell to the ground.
Yoko managed to get back onto her feet as L'Cor's Wyv'en came boosting up. "Sorry for the delay Yoko, but I couldn't get a solid shot until you fell out of my line of fire." L'Cor's Wyv'en reached up an arm and it pulled the MFC that was stuck in Yoko's chest plate out. "I don't think you need this anymore!" he quipped.
Yoko suddenly burst into tears when she saw the L'Cor's face on her communicator screen. "My knight saves me again!" She pulled her right arm out of its socket and touched her communicator screen with a loving caress. "Thank you."
L'Cor's image gave her a shrug and a lopsided grin. "You did most of the work. Come on let's get going. I've already called Ivan and Alain. They're heading out to pick up the first Grif'cen. We'd better clear out before reinforcements come."
"Too bad we can't use it for parts any more!"
L'Cor looked a little sheepish. "Yeah well my trigger finger must have gotten stuck or something you know? Anyway, see you back at base ok?"
"Yes sir!" Yoko blew him a kiss and then cut the connection. She moved her MAAC experimentally and found that it responded with no hesitation. It dawned on her that her sluggishness earlier had nothing to do with damage to her machine but instead, had everything to do with her freezing under stress. It had been the first time that she truly had come close to dying mere inches in fact. She converted back to air mode and gave L'Cor's Wyv'en a wiggle of her wings as she accelerated away.
She understood now why L'Cor hadn't wanted her to fight. He had been right. Playing in the Tournament where you might get killed was a lot different than fighting bloodthirsty killers who wanted to kill you. Her hesitation had almost gotten her killed. The fact that L'Cor had been tactful enough to not point it out to her only made her love him that much more. She came to a firm decision and urged her machine on faster. She would have to get back to base well ahead of L'Cor if she were to have enough time to get ready for him!
Chapter 17 The Black Knight
Start of Entry Orbit: 1016 (I think), Moon: Um still not sure, Solar Cycle: I give up!
The sun had set by the time I opened my eyes again. Someone had taken me out of my MAAC and laid me on a nice soft cushion. I was on a table in a large sparsely decorated room that was lit by numerous candles. Up against the far wall, opposite of the door, was a large canopied bed. The fabric of the canopy was pulled down but thanks to the candles on the other side of the bed; I was able to make out the shapely shadow of a giant woman.
Well, I guess giant is a relative term. My MAAC was nowhere to be seen and I assumed that it was back in the wizard Malin's room. The shadow behind the canopy was in the process of pulling on some clothing and I wasn't sure if I should avert my eyes or not. There weren't many decorations in the room, but what few there were looked obviously expensive and well maintained. That meant that the woman who was casting the shadow could be no other than Princess Gaya.
The decision to avert my eyes was taken out of my hands when Princess Gaya swept aside the canopy and saw that I was awake. She was dressed in a simple nightgown that did nothing to hide her womanly figure.
She approached the table and said, "I am happy to see that thou art awake."
Arrghh, this formal language is killing me! Ok, for the purposes of this journal, I'm going to try to imitate the language as close as possible. Just remember that it is actually much more formal than I make it sound, ok? Geez, who am I talking to anyway? Who's going to be able to see this entry?
"Thank you for allowing me to rest in your room. I assume that it was you who brought me here? I am sorry for being a burden."
She smiled a little and said, "Thou art not much of a burden."
There was an uncomfortable silence. From my end, there was just so much in my head and in my heart that I wanted to say but how could I? How do I go about telling this marvellous creature that I've been in love with her since I was a kid?
Anyway, in the end, I simply asked, "Did the wizard Malin explain my presence here?"
She nodded gravely and it seemed as if she wanted to say something more and had to visibly restrain herself. Instead, she extended a hand and said, "Come with me. There is someone who wants to meet you."
I gingerly stepped on her hand and immediately sat down when she started to move. She stepped out of her room and walked down a large corridor. At the end of the corridor was a huge wooden door with an ornate crest that featured a large drac'en. Princess Gaya knocked gently and then opened the door after a voice from within called out.
Inside, the room was dimly lit but I was able to make a four post canopied bed with a frail looking figure on it. An old woman dressed in conservative clothes was tending to the figure on the bed. As we approached, the woman looked up, curtsied to Princess Gaya and then left the room.
Princess Gaya sat on the edge of the bed and held me up so that the figure on the bed could get a good look at me. At the same time, I was able to see the figure clearly too.
The ancient looking man that lay on the bed appeared as if he was going to die any minute. The flesh on his face was dry and pulled tight against his skull. His few remaining clumps of hair were pure white.
"Grandfather," said Princess Gaya quietly. "This is the Black Knight."
Grandfather? This was Lord Tendrac'en? I did my math quickly in my head. Lord Tendrac'en had to be between sixty and seventy orbits old. But the man on the bed looked even older than that.
The old man glared at me with eyes that still burned with fire. I stared back as best as I could but I could feel my knees trembling and shivers running up and down my spine. Finally, for lack of anything better to do, I bowed to the old man and said, "I am honoured to meet you, my lord."
In response, the old man simply said, "Thou resembles him." Then to Princess Gaya, he said, "I must rest now, child."
"Of course grandfather." Princess Gaya got off the bed and quietly left the room.
The old woman was waiting patently outside. When she saw us exit the room, she quickly went back in and closed the door.
As Princess Gaya walked down the corridor, she held me up to her face and said, "My grandfather is not the man he once was. A terrible sickness is eating him up from the inside. Malin says that he could probably cure him but it would take all of his remaining magic. My grandfather has refused. He would rather that Malin use his magic for securing the future."
It didn't surprise me that Lord Tendrac'en would refuse magical healing. Everything that I have heard about him suggested that he had always put his nation before him.
I was surprised when Princess Gaya did not go back into her room. Instead, she kept walking until she came upon Malin's door. She knocked in a rapid pattern and then let herself in.
Inside the room, the first thing I noticed was my Wyv'en MAAC. It was still where I had left it. I guess there was no one here who could move it. Seated at the centre table was Malin as well as a middle aged man who had a regal bearing.
Knowing my history the way I did, I knew instantly who this man was. As Gaya brought me closer, I bowed and said, "Greetings King Auril. I am honoured to meet you."
The King looked down his nose at me and then grunted, "Yes, thou art." Then he turned angrily to Malin and said, "I am not happy with this. He should not be here."
Malin held up a soothing hand and said, "I have explained it to thee, my King. He is necessary."
"Bah! I still think that thou should have done your duty all those years ago!"
"Father, please!" said Princess Gaya in a placating tone. "I have faith in Malin."
King Auril's face softened as he addressed his daughter. "Doth thou know thy part in all of this?"
"Yes father. I will serve my country."
King Auril let a sigh and said to Malin, "He must be tested and found worthy!"
By this point, I had just about enough. I had being doing some thinking. My âfight' with the Mordue Hunters had shown that even in its current shrunken state, my Wyv'en was more than a match for anything the Morda Empire could throw at me. That gave me a tremendous advantage. I was one hundred percent sure that I did not like that one bit. It was one thing to face an opponent on even footing like my duel with L'Cor in Arca. We were in similar types of machines and we faced each other honourably. Hacking up helpless humans in primitive armour did not sit well with me.
"Whoa! Hold up! If you know anything about me, you know that when I'm inside my machine, there is nothing in this world that can stand up to me. Modern technology gives me an unfair advantage. My honour dictates that I meet my foes on as close an even footing as possible."
King Auril looked startled at my outburst. However, Malin had a satisfied smirk on his face. He looked at King Auril and said, "Well?"
King Auril said nothing and he looked away. I had no idea why, but it was clear that King Auril did not like me.
Malin turned back to me and said, "We do not require you to fight our battles for us. We can manage that well enough ourselves. My magic is almost completely used up and soon, I will not be able to protect Princess Gaya anymore."
"Protect her? Protect her from what?"
There was an uncomfortable silence and then Malin said, "From my former apprentice."
That took me by surprise. This was the first that I'd heard that Malin even had an apprentice. Whoever this person was, he or she had faded from history.
Malin sighed heavily and then explained, "Farad is a wizard like myself. A long time ago, we parted ways because we both had our own visions of what the future should be. In order to bring about his vision of the future, he has sided with Emperor Morda. I have used up most of my magic and soon, I will not be able to protect Princess Gaya from Farad's magic anymore."
"A wizard! What the frak can I do against a wizard? Even in my MAAC, he probably just has to wave his wand and poof I'm dead!"
Princess Gaya set me down on the table before taking a seat for herself. She addressed me and said, "It is not that simple Sir Black. The wizard's code forbids them from taking lives. Farad will not break that code. However, that does not stop him from using his magic to enable other people to kill."
I thought about it for a second and then said, "That's how the Mordue Hunters ambushed you in the forest."
She nodded gravely but I could see some hidden pain behind her eyes. "I'm sorry Princess Gaya. You must have lost some close friends in that ambush."
She nodded again and said, "They had been my personal bodyguard for as long as I can remember."
I felt a lump in my throat and felt stupid for my outburst. I turned back to King Auril and Malin and said, "So that's what you need me for? You want me to protect Princess Gaya?" When they nodded gravely, I said, "I will protect her with my life. While there is breath in my body, I will protect her."
Both King Auril and Princess Gaya looked surprised at my answer. However, Malin appeared as if he had been expecting me to say that. He gave me a piercing look and said, "Will thou swear that as an oath?"
I matched Malin's stare. I could feel a pressure building up inside me. I was still not convinced that this wasn't all just some sort of fancy dream, but I did know one thing. I loved Princess Gaya and if I had some part to play to keep her alive, then there was no other place that I would rather be. "I swear to protect Gaya with everything in my power."
I felt some sort of weird force swirl around me for second and then Malin clapped his hands together and said, "Done!"
I felt as if a rope had just been tied around my entire body and I instinctively knew that some sort of spell had been cast.
Princess Gaya must have felt the same thing as she exclaimed, "Wizard Malin! That is not fair! Thou cannot ask this of him!"
"It is done my dear."
Princess Gaya looked to her father and said, "Father!"
King Auril held up his hand and said, "I agree with Malin, Gaya. This is necessary."
Princess Gaya turned to me and there were tears in her eyes. "I am sorry Sir Black."
"Sorry? What are you sorry for?"
"Malin has tied our fates together. If I die, then thou shall die with me."
I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could. "I would have died anyway if Malin had not intervened. I owe my life to Malin and my honour dictates a comparable service in return."
Princess Gaya said nothing but I could see that she wanted to say a lot more. Malin turned back to the king and said, "Well?"
King Auril looked as if he had eaten something sour. "Fine!" he finally grated. "He is worthy!" He got up from his chair and pulled something long and dark from beside him. I saw that it was a sword inside of a scabbard. The hilt of the sword was a simple cross guard and the handle was long enough for two hands held close together. I knew that my Wyv'en would have no trouble holding the sword. "This is my sword Callus. Before me, it was wielded by my father, King Tendra'cen. I and my father before me have done what we could to redeem the honour of this blade. Before it was taken by my father, it was wielded by none other than King Groken himself. It is just that this sword shall now be wielded by thee."
Of course I couldn't take the sword right then and there. Instead, I bowed low to the king while Princess Gaya received the sword for me. For some strange reason, I felt greatly honoured. "I am honoured King Auril. I shall not disappoint you or dishonour Callus."
King Auril sniffed loudly and said, "See that thou do not!" With that, he stormed out of the room.
After he was gone, there was a silence in the room as the three of us were lost in our own thoughts. Finally, I asked the question that had been in my mind for a while now. "Why does King Auril hate me?"
Princess Gaya held out her hand and I stepped onto her palm. "He does not hate thee, Sir Black. He is just being a father before being king."
Well, that made no sense to me. I said nothing as Princess Gaya said goodnight to Malin. She carried me to my Wyv'en and I gratefully climbed into my cockpit. I sealed the hatch shut and powered on my MAAC. I felt a sense of comfort at being reunited with my machine.
I followed Princess Gaya out of the room and we walked in silence until we reached her door. I hesitated because I did not know what to do. Was I still invited into her room?
She opened her door and said, "My bodyguards used to stand guard outside of my room. One of them was a woman and she stayed with me at all times." She had a hint of a smile on her beautiful face as she said, "I am sure I can trust thee to be a gentleman?"
I knew that she couldn't see my face at the moment so I gave her a mock salute. "Princess, even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to take advantage of you. And if I tried, you only have to flick your finger at me."
She laughed and pushed her door open all the way. After we went in, she closed the door and I popped the hatch on my cockpit. "When we are alone, I would appreciate it if thou addressed me as Gaya."
"I shall, Gaya. And please, call me R'Tus." Gaya walked over to her closet while I parked my MAAC beside her night table. She came back with a tiny bed in her hands.
"When I was a child, one of my bodyguards fashioned a small wooden doll for me. He even made a bed and some doll sized furniture. I loved that doll and was heartbroken when I lost it. I kept all the furniture though."
She laid the bed on the table and I gratefully sat down. It was surprisingly comfortable. I looked down at my neural suit and said, "I hope you have some doll sized clothes too."
She giggled and said, "I might, but my doll was a girl. I shall ask one of the maids to make some boy doll clothes tomorrow."
My hands went to the neck of my suit and I gave her a pointed look. "What are the rules of modesty?" Nudity didn't bother me very much anymore, but I wasn't sure of the rules in this time period.
Gaya thought for a moment before making up her mind. "Our fates are intertwined now. There will be no modesty between us." She reached down, grabbed her nightgown and pulled it over her head in one smooth motion.
I think my eyes must have bulged a bit as she stood before me entirely naked. I tried to keep my eyes on her face but it was hard especially since she was so large...I mean all of her and not just...argghh...
I pulled open my neural suit and peeled it off of my body. Her nakedness had inspired a certain part of my body but I made no attempt to hide myself. After all, our fates were intertwined now, right?
She muffled a giggle with her hand when she noticed my arousal. She pulled aside her canopy and then pulled part of it around the night table so that I would be hidden from anyone waltzing in. It made the whole situation more intimate and surreal at the same time though.
Eventually, we said goodnight to each other and lay down in our respective beds after she blew the candles.
*
Maybe it was my heightened sense of hearing due to my smaller size, or maybe it was the spell that linked me to Gaya. Whatever it was, I woke up early the next morning with a deep sense of wrongness. I quickly pulled on my neural suit and climbed into my Wyv'en. I was glad that I had not completely shut the engine down the night before.
My monitors flashed to life just as the door crashed inward. A huge beast that was full of teeth and scales barged in. I had enough time to recognize it as a had'ra before it crashed into me.
In my time, had'ras were almost extinct and I had only seen one once in a zoo with my father as a child. However, that pathetic animal was a pale shadow to the one that slammed solidly into the chest plate of my MAAC.
To whoever listens to this account somewhere down the road, if you have never seen a had'ra, then listen up. There is a reason that Lord Tendrac'en chose to tame drac'ens instead of had'ras. A drac'en is two tons of muscle, teeth and fury. A Had'ra is almost three times larger, ten times meaner, oh and did I mention that it had three heads?
All three heads were snapping at my armour while its front legs were clawing at my legs. I managed to get my arms around the sides of the beast and I held on for dear life. I knew that Gaya's life was in danger if the beast managed to slip from my grasp.
On a side monitor, I saw that she had jumped out of bed and was even now pulling a sword out from the other side of the bed. A small part of my mind acknowledged that the sword in her hand was none other than Callus.
I could feel the beast beginning to slip from my grasp. One of its heads had seen Gaya and it was straining and snapping at her.
"Get back!" I called out to her. I tightened my grasp and pushed backward towards the wall that I knew was behind me.
The wooden interior wall shattered like so much dry wood and the stone outer wall broke outward. I belatedly remembered that Gaya's room was on the seventh level of the castle just as the had'ra and I hung suspended for a split second before we fell.
I let go that moment and pushed the beast away from me. I had no jump jets and I wasn't sure I could survive a fall from this height, MAAC armour or no.
An outwardly slanting roof below did much to break my fall as did the trees that grew beside the castle. In the end, I timed my impact and managed to land on bent knees and then continued into a roll.
The had'ra landed about ten feet away from me. I reached back for my MFC but my hand only grasped empty air. My MFC must have gotten unclamped from the impact with the stone wall.
The had'ra got to its feet. It didn't appear hurt at all from the fall. All three scaly heads were snarling at me. I tried not to think of what would've happened if I had not gotten into my Wyv'en in time. It braced for a charge and I did the only thing I could think of. I fired my point defence laser and mentally thanked Chief Willan for installing it.
The laser seemed to intimidate the beast and is shied away from the stinging beam. However, I could see that it wouldn't be enough to stop it.
"Sir Black!"
I hazarded a glance upward in time to see something shiny fly down towards me. By instinct and luck, I managed to catch the shiny object that Gaya had thrown down to me. In my Wyv'en's right hand, I held the sword Callus.
Maybe it was my imagination, but I swear I could almost feel the leather bound handle in my hand! I swung the sword in a horizontal arch as I twisted to the side to avoid the had'ra's charge.
One of the had'ra's heads flew off in a torrent of blood amidst a terrible scream of pain. Before the beast could recover though, I charged in and plunged Callus deep into the body. The had'ra screamed again and it writhed frantically in an effort to get away. I pulled Callus out and then swung it twice in rapid succession.
The headless body of the had'ra fell to the ground at my feet.
"Sir Black!"
I looked up to see Gaya running towards me.
She was armed with her sword but not much else. "Art thou alright?" she asked breathlessly.
I must confess though I'm not proud of myself for doing this. While she stood there panting breathlessly, I indulged myself a bit before answering. All I'll say is that last night, in her bedroom, the lighting was dim and I didn't have the advantage of my MAAC's optical sensors or its anonymity. Now, if full daylight, I just couldn't resist. Hey, it's been a while for me, ok?
"I am fine Princess. I am sorry but I do not have any garments available for you right now."
Gaya shrugged as if it didn't matter. I was once more grateful that deep within my MAAC, she couldn't see my body's reaction.
A maid came running out of the castle and quickly wrapped a large blanket around Gaya. The maid gave me a reproachful stare that made me wonder if maybe she could see my reaction after all.
The courtyard that we were in quickly filled with armed knights. One of the knights brought over my MFC. I thanked him and clipped it back onto my back. Many of the knights clapped me on my back and congratulated me on my victory.
I was uncertain on how to respond and did the best that I could. I was grateful when Gaya led me back into the castle. Once inside, we made a quick stop to her bedroom where she got dressed in full armour. Then we went to see the wizard.
Malin had a grim expression on his face as we entered his room. "I hope thou now understand the predicament we are in, Sir Black."
"This Farad character can magically send assassins to kill Princess Gaya, right?"
Malin nodded solemnly. "That is why you must always be by Gaya's side. We are lucky in a way. Farad is not able to use all of his magic."
"Why not?"
"Unlike Lord Tendrac'en, Emperor Morda is not averse to having magic used on him."
"So he accepts magically healing now and then?"
"Not just magically healing Sir Black," answered Princess Gaya. "Emperor Morda has not changed in appearance since before the time when my great grandfather was killed."
"An ageless emperor eh?" I was not impressed and it must have shown in my tone.
"Not just ageless Sir Black," said Gaya seriously. "Emperor Morda is impossible to kill. He is immortal. They say that he is part Grif'cen."
"Grif'cen? Isn't that some sort of legendary animal?"
Malin chuckled softly and said, "Not so legendary." Instead of commenting further though, he then said, "I do not believe that Morda has Grif'cen blood. In fact, I know for a fact that Farad has cast a spell upon him. Emperor Morda can only be harmed by his own blood."
"Huh?" That didn't make any sense. Then I thought about it. "Is Y'vain still alive?"
Malin shook his head gravely. "She took ill soon after her return to the Mordue Empire and died." He waited and looked at me expectantly. I again had a feeling that I was supposed to puzzle this one out. Historically, Y'vain had disappeared as if she had never been. The Black Knight and Emperor Morda fought a duel that ended the war and Princess Gaya married the last remaining Mordue prince in order to consolidate her position. The marriage effectively united the continent and it was subsequently renamed Camordue.
The thought of Gaya marrying someone else suddenly made me sick. Yeah, I'd always known that she had, but I guess I had pushed that little fact into the back of my mind. I looked in my monitors at both Malin and Gaya. I wondered how much they knew. Did Gaya know that she was destined to marry the descendant of her enemy?
Suddenly, another thought hit me. What was going to happen to me? My book had talked about the famous duel between the Black Knight and Emperor Morda, but it never specified the fate of both combatants. Was I going to die here in the past?
I could see that Malin was still awaiting an answer so I said, "Emperor Morda probably killed Y'vain because of her failure and I'm guessing that her son never made it back to Mordue. The man that Emperor Malin is currently pushing as the true ruler of Camu is nothing but a puppet with no blood relation to himself. Thanks to the spell, Morda would be wary of any of his descendants coming too close to him."
Malin smiled but said nothing more. I guess I was either bang on or pretty close to the truth. That meant that the Mordue prince that Gaya would end up marrying was not related to Morda by blood. That thought made me feel a little better.
However, one thought kept bothering me. If all of Morda's descendants were dead, how the frak was I a misfit from the future supposed to beat him? Perhaps technology will win over magic. I don't know. Anyway, I'm signing off for now.
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Post by Koalabear on Mar 22, 2019 12:29:39 GMT -5
Chapter 18 Love and the Battle
When L'Cor climbed out of the Wyv'en back at NIMH's main hangar, he was handed a folded note by a grinning young tech. When L'Cor opened it, it contained a simple message from Yoko. It said:
"Come to your room as soon as possible. I'm ready. Love, Yoko."
L'Cor could feel his pulse race at the thought and he nearly slipped off the ladder in his excitement. However, as soon as his feet touched the ground, Alain came up behind him and tapped him on his shoulder.
"Got a minute L'Cor?"
L'Cor tried not to frown. "Uh, not really Alain. Can this wait?"
"No, it can't," said Alain firmly.
L'Cor sighed heavily and followed Alain. He fervently hoped that Yoko would wait for him.
Alain led him into one of the briefing rooms that connected with the hangar. Ivan was inside the room as well as several Tournament players and a very irate looking Yoko. Her hair was wet as if she had just stepped out of the shower and she was wearing a short bathrobe that barely reached past her rear. The bathrobe did not have a sash so Yoko had to stand with her arms crossed in front of her body.
Ivan and Yoko were the only people standing in the room and L'Cor was sure that Yoko was butt naked under the robe, which would explain her reluctance to sit in the short garment. He hid a smile and went to stand beside her.
"Not one word out of you old man!" hissed Yoko in a menacing tone.
L'Cor couldn't help it this time and cracked a small smile as he said, "I would never dream of it!"
Ivan tried to hide his amusement before he cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Ok everyone, here's the update. L'Cor's plan went off almost cleanly. The salvage team is already on its way back with the undamaged Grif'cen. Unfortunately, the other pilot managed to get a distress call out. We monitored it but we couldn't stop it. We do know that it was received and acknowledged."
A hushed silence followed that last statement. Everyone in the room knew what was going to come next. Ivan didn't disillusion them. "The Black Skull is mobilizing"
"How many?" asked L'Cor quietly.
This time, Alain spoke up. "We're not sure, but we think at least one quad. Maybe two."
"That's up to eight MAACs. Any idea on the classes?" L'Cor was thinking furiously about the odds. Depending on the types of MAACs that got sent against them, they might have a chance."
"I'm sorry L'Cor," said Alain. "It doesn't look good. One of our computer geeks found a glitch in the Royal Gayan Armed Forces inventory list. One of their depots is missing several quads of MAACs."
L'Cor got a sinking feeling in his stomach. "Several?"
Alain nodded grimly. "It gets worse. Among the missing MAACs were four prototype Had'ras."
"「dookie」!"
"Wait! Hold up a minute!" exclaimed Yoko. "I'm not familiar with that model."
L'Cor turned to her and said, "It was still in design phase by the end of the war but I heard a lot about the specs. During the war, the Drac'en was considered the biggest, meanest MAAC. That was why it was a favourite amongst the veterans. The Had'ra was supposed to be even bigger."
"It's more than just bigger," said Ivan. "I got to see the blueprints as well as one of the first walking models. Personally, I wouldn't even classify it as a MAAC. It's more of a walking fortress."
"Not only that," said Alain. "It was supposed to be the first MAAC designed for nuclear warfare."
There was a stunned silence as everyone digested that last piece of information. It didn't take a genius to figure out what could happen to New Neomar if the Black Skull had managed to steal nuclear ordinance for their Had'ras.
Finally, L'Cor asked, "What do we have going for us?"
Ivan gestured to the room. "We have eight Tournament players plus yourself and Yoko. The other players are too injured to fight effectively."
L'Cor nodded and then said, "We have three MAACs but only two pilots for them. If the Black Skull is going to come gunning for us, I don't think we'll have enough time to train another player. We'll have to go with what we have. What about weapons?"
"The bad news," said Alain, is that most of the weapons on the Micks are not going to do much more than tickle the armour on a MAAC, especially a heavy MAAC. The good news though is that there is a virtually untouched weapons depot here in this facility. A Mick can probably handle two light auto-cannons or a couple of small lasers."
L'Cor shook his head vigorously. "Scratch that. Find the biggest single weapon a Mick can carry and install it." He scanned the group and found that he recognized most of the players as well as their Micks.
"That makes sense," said Ivan. "A single weapon would be easier to calibrate to a Mick's targeting computer.
L'Cor started pacing as his thoughts raced. "We'll work in pairs. In each team, one Mick will be armed with a heavy ballistic weapon and the other will be armed with a heavy energy weapon. Do we have any missile systems?"
"I think I saw a couple of AROW systems," said Alain. "But none of the Micks will be able to field it."
"They won't have to," said L'Cor. "Can you set them up at the far side of Old Neomar to fire remotely?"
Alain thought for a moment and then said, "I think so. It shouldn't be that hard. However, we don't have a friend or foe system. Those AROWs could very well target you or Yoko once they've launched."
"Don't worry about that. Yoko and I won't reveal our presence until the AROWs have exhausted their supply or can no longer fire. If they're stationary, I can only expect one or two salvos from them. What about howitzer type weapons? Can you install any on any intact buildings?"
"That will be easier but we won't have any way to target the enemy. At least the AROWs have self targeting systems."
L'Cor shook his head. "I don't care. As long as their firing in the right direction and distract the enemy long enough for us to kill them."
Yoko, who had been listening intently up until now suddenly exclaimed, "Of course! Our Micks will be under OC and as the Black Skull MAACs come deeper and deeper into the city, they'll have to split up to find and destroy the weapons that are shooting at them! Once they do, we can get them!"
In Yoko's excitement, she gestured with her hands. As a result, her bathroom fell open. She did not even notice until L'Cor whistled appreciatively. She glanced down, blushed beet red, and the covered up once more.
One of the players whispered in a loud voice, "Did you see that? Shaved!"
"I heard that Dorjan!" Yoko fixed a harsh stare at the indiscreet player. "Just wait until I get you in my sights once more!"
Dorjan ducked his head amidst raucous laughter. Yoko stared defiantly at the crowd but L'Cor could see that she wasn't really all that angry.
Even Ivan was chuckling as he said, "That's a good plan. L'Cor, I'll leave it to you to lead the team. Alain and I have got our hands full. Good thing we don't have a shortage of techs!"
L'Cor was startled. "Me? Lead?"
"Of course! You're the only one with true combat leadership experience."
"But "
"You can do it L'Cor!" said Yoko proudly. "I know you can!"
L'Cor felt his chest swell with pride and he vowed silently that he wouldn't let Yoko down. "Alright, Anyone got a map of Old Neomar?"
Alain pulled out a large sheet of paper and threw it on the central table. L'Cor pointed to various parts of the map and said, "I'll leave the specific locations of the weapons to you and Ivan, but I want the AROWs as far away from New Neomar as possible. Chances are, the Black Skull will advance on us directly from there so I want the AROWs to get as many shots out as possible. As for the howitzers, put them here, here and there. Dorjan! Are you paying attention? Stop staring at Yoko. Maybe if you're good and do your job, Yoko will flash you again after the battle!" That got another round of laughter as well as a well deserved smack from Yoko.
However, Yoko couldn't stay angry for long and she quickly joined in the laughter. "L'Cor's got a point Dorjan. You better mark these weapon placements down in that pea sized brain of yours. You wouldn't want to be hit by one of them!"
Dorjan got a sly look on his face. "You know, I might be inspired to fight harder with some proper motivation."
Yoko sighed theatrically. She pulled open her bathroom for a full two seconds before closing it again. "There! Satisfied?"
Dorjan adopted a dreamy expression and nodded. Yoko bowed to the cheering group and then said, "That's all you guys are getting! The rest is being saved for L'Cor!"
That brought a fresh bout of laughter, cheers and applause. Even Ivan and Alain paused in their private discussion to join in the revelry.
L'Cor took it all in stride. As an experienced campaigner, he knew that they were all just blowing off steam and calming nerves. None of them had ever fought under conditions where their lives were truly in danger. Despite the live weapons in the Tournament, the grand majority of battles ended with the disablement of an opponent's Mick. He wasn't surprised that Yoko had clued in on the general emotional atmosphere and it didn't bother him at all that she was playing up to the crowd.
He held up a hand for silence and waited until the noise died down. He addressed Alain and Ivan and said, "When you install the remote weapons, make sure that you throw some OC on top of them. You can probably cover everything but the business end, but that should be enough to confuse the enemy even more."
Ivan gave him thumbs up, and then resumed his conversation with Alain. After a few more moments, he and Alain left the briefing room to begin their preparations.
L'Cor surveyed the players once more and said, "Break up into partners. I want one heavy Mick to be paired with a light Mick. Heavies will be armed with ballistics and lights will be armed with lasers."
He paused while the group sorted themselves out. After a few minutes he said, "Ok, hopefully, we'll get a chance to practise a few manoeuvres but for now, here's some basic tactics. Stay under OC for as long as possible. Aim for the back of the MAACs. If you knock out the jump jets first, then they'll have a harder time in catching you. Use the buildings of the city. They're bigger, meaner and heavier armed, but we have OC, guts and an intimate knowledge of the battlefield. We can do this. We can beat them! We just need to trust each other."
The rest of the meeting lasted for several hours. At one point, Yoko left the room and came back about ten minutes later, fully dressed. She brought with her some hot food that did much to restore the energy that had begun to falter up until then.
Much later, Ivan dropped back in to inform L'Cor that the remote weapons had been deployed and he gave all the players a map of the locations. "Your Micks are about half way modified folks so you better get some rest. We've been monitoring the Black Skull's frequencies. They're heading over in the morning. We never thought that we would have this much time but apparently, they had a hard time tracking down their leader. It seems that the so called Black Prince has been gorging himself in the Red Light District of New Neomar."
While the group chuckled, Yoko piped up, "That's understandable. Madam Rouge sent me a message earlier today and I asked her to keep the 「illegitimate child」 busy. Even the 「strong independent woman who don't need no man」s are doing their part in this battle!"
Ivan looked at Yoko incredulously. "I wasn't aware that you were acquainted with Madam Rouge."
Yoko smirked and said proudly, "Of course! Who do you think gives me fashion advice?!"
Ivan looked as if he was going to say something else but then he just sighed and shook his head ruefully. "L'Cor, you've got your hands full with this one!"
As the players all laughed, L'Cor smiled and gave Yoko an appreciative stare. "All right folks, we're done here for now. Go and get some rest, dismissed!"
The players filed out and more than one of them gave Yoko a wink as they left the room. Ivan gave both L'Cor and Yoko a big grin and a slight tilt of his head before he left the room.
In moments, L'Cor and Yoko were left alone. There was a moment of hesitation and then both L'Cor and Yoko rushed into each other's arms. They kissed each other hard as their hands explored each other's bodies.
With visible effort, L'Cor broke the kiss and said, "Let's go back to my room. We'll be more comfortable there. I have a promise to keep."
"I can't wait that long!" gasped Yoko. She pulled her shirt off and the flipped her skirt up. She pushed L'Cor down on a nearby chair and the proceeded to frantically strip him out of his neural suit.
"Wait," said L'Cor half heartedly. However, his willpower had just about disappeared. When his neural suit was around his ankles, he grabbed Yoko and pulled her roughly into this lap. His hands fitted around her buttocks as his lips latched onto one of her nipples.
Yoko gasped in pleasure and ran her fingers through his hair. L'Cor pulled away once more and panted, "Are you sure about this? I thought you wanted your first time to be special?"
In response, Yoko reached down and grabbed L'Cor's manhood in a virtual death grip. "Shut up and make love to me old man!" She lowered herself, let loose a hiss and then groaned in ecstasy.
L'Cor let out an involuntary moan and then did as his lover had ordered him to.
*
The plan was working even better than L'Cor could have hoped. The Black Skull MAACs had been caught completely by surprise when the first AROW salvos went crashing amongst their formation. One of the light MAACs had been destroyed outright and two others acquired moderate to heavy damage. Judging from the satellite images that Ivan had been able to hijack, the light MAACs were all Jeckos a new model of scout MAAC. The heavy MAACs were barely touched though and L'Cor felt his heart sink as the first images of the enemy force appeared. Somehow, the Black Skull had gotten their hands on four Drac'en MkII's. The MkII's were bigger than their predecessors with thicker armour and heavier weapon load outs.
The satellite images refreshed and L'Cor could see that another of the Jeckos had been abandoned. That brought the enemy force down to six MAACs.
L'Cor felt a faint trembling in his harness just as the satellite images refreshed once more. The first volley of the remote controlled bazookas had also caught the enemy force by surprise. Whoever these bozos were, it was obvious that they didn't have much combat experience. Still, it didn't take an ace in a MAAC to take down improperly equipped civilians!
The odds had gotten a little bit better by the time the enemy force reached the outskirts of Old Neomar. The last two Jeckos were down for the count and all the MkII's had received some damage. The return fire from the Black Skull force had been pretty effective though. None of the AROW emplacements had survived to fire a second volley and all of the entrenched bazookas were gone too. All that were left was a handful of bazookas placed around the interior of the city, eight Micks under OC and two MAACs.
From now on, things were going to get interesting.
L'Cor fired up his command module and linked his communicator to everyone on his team. "Alright people, this is it. Yoko, get down here. I want a full spread of missiles on the rearmost MkII as you dive. Once your birds are away, boost the frak out of there and haul 「bum-bum」 back to NIMH for a reload."
"Yes sir!" acknowledged Yoko. There was a slight grin on her face though so L'Cor knew that she hadn't lost her sense of humour.
"Dorjan, You and your partner will add your fire to that MkII as soon as Yoko's missiles hit. I want that MkII out of action! The rest of you: hit and run tactics! I want those MkIIs to spread out even further before we go in for the kill!"
There was a round of acknowledgements as L'Cor typed energetically on his keyboard. He linked his radar to the Battlefield Recon Probe that was hovering over the city. Linking to it increased its chance of discovery by the Black Skull but the real time footage of the enemy's actions was an invaluable asset. Besides, the Black Skull MAACs would soon have other things on their minds!
Another one of the gems that Ivan and Allan had found in the abandoned NIMH facility was experimental laser guided cluster rockets. These were single fire dumb weapons that did not have complicated internal targeting computers. The advantages were that they could pack heavier warheads and they did not generate a missile alert in the targeted machine. Unfortunately, the concept did not work against the Saxx because it was virtually impossible to get a team of infiltrators close enough to paint the target with a targeting laser. Virtually impossible that is, unless you happen to have a pair of Micks under OC.
L'Cor watched with his heart in his throat as Yoko's Grif'cen came screaming out of the sky in a near vertical dive. The angle put her out of the line of fire from any of the MkII's weapons but only a damn cocky pilot to try it under combat conditions.
A swarm of rockets flashed away from Yoko's Grif'cen. A split second later, her Grif'cen underwent a strange transformation. L'Cor drew in a sharp breath because he had never in his life even considered a manoeuvre such as this. The Grif'cen's dual engines folded out and down as if it were in the process of converting to ground mode. However, it did not complete its transformation. Instead, the engines pointed directly at the ground for a several seconds effectively slowing the Grif'cen's descent before they folded back and the Grif'cen sped away in an afterburner assisted climb.
As Yoko sped away, L'Cor belatedly closed his mouth. Not a single weapon had managed to track let alone fire at Yoko. Her target though, was a walking ruin. The MkII took three tottering steps and then collapsed.
"Dorjann Head out with your partner to the next target!" L'Cor tapped on his keyboard and sent the targeting instructions out to Dorjan's Mick. "Be careful and stay under OC for as long as possible!"
After Dorjan acknowledged, L'Cor turned his attention to the remaining MkIIs. The first kill had been a cakewalk, but he was sure that the last three were now forewarned and ready.
The lead MkII was getting closer to L'Cor's position. It showed no signs of being hindered by unseen opponents. L'Cor keyed his communicator and said, "Finn what's your status?" There was no response. "Maki what's your status?" Again, there was no response. L'Cor cursed under his breath. He'd known that there would be casualties eventually but he had hoped against it with all of his heart.
He switched his HUD to direct visual and zoomed in on the lead MkII. He could see the huge MAAC bulldozing its way through the abandoned city streets. Two plumes of dark smoke could be barely made out behind it. With the fates of Finn and Maki confirmed, L'Cor pushed his grief into the back of his mind and prepared for combat. He brought up his targeting computer. His current position was on top of a medium sized apartment building. He was lying prone with at least three sheets of Optical Camouflage covering his Wyv'en. In front on him, supported by a tripod was the closest equivalent to a sniper rifle that a MAAC could be armed with. The weapon was so large that only a heavy MAAC could use it on the move. The most that a light MAAC like a Wyv'en could do was to move it from place to place until it could use it in a stationary position. L'Cor had chosen his position very carefully because it gave him a clear shot down each of the avenues in which his team had been trying the herd the enemy. He had no illusions as to being able to hold this position indefinitely but he would settle for taking out at least one MkII before the others clued in to his position.
He slid his arms into their respective sockets and zoomed his targeting computer until it was centred on the chest of the advancing MkII. The chest area was where a pilot of a MAAC resided. A solid hit on this area had the best chance of stopping a MAAC in its tracks, especially if the pilot were injured or killed. However, the chest was also equipped with the thickest possible armour. If his first shot did not incapacitate the MAAC, then he would be in serious trouble.
L'Cor's mind went back several orbits to the duel with his brother. In comparison to L'Cor, R'Tus had been in an underpowered, lightly armed and armoured MAAC yet he had won the duel in less than five minutes. R'Tus had done it by incapacitating his MAAC and by making his heavier weapons useless before closing in for the kill.
He shifted his aim until he was targeting the MkII's right knee. L'Cor whispered a silent prayer and flexed his index finger. In response, his Wyv'en stroked the trigger of the heavy HVC and it bucked as it released its deadly projectile.
The solid slug traveled at a speed that made it invisible to the naked eye. L'Cor's HUD painted a silvery line that marked it trajectory. The MkII's knee crumpled under the impact of the solid slug and the MkII crashed forward. He tried to set up for another shot, but in its prone position, he had no clear shot to its vitals.
He was about to slip out from under his OC when Yoko's face appeared on his communicator screen. "Leave him to me dear! I'll finish him off!"
"Yoko! What the frak are you doing here? You should be rearming!"
"No time for that! And no point either! Bran and Yve are down. Dorjan and the others are dancing with one of the heavies, but that leaves one of the bad guys completely unengaged."
L'Cor glanced at his secondary monitor that was monitoring the tactical situation and cursed with feeling. He'd lost another two! It wasn't all bad though. One of the MkII's was acting like a blindfolded child reacting to jeering catcalls at a birthday party. It was wandering around looking for unseen opponents while stinging hits tore chunks out of its armour.
His primary monitor showed Yoko's Grif'cen as it descended on its jump jets. It had converted to ground mode and he watched as it pulled a MFC from its waist compartment and plunged it into the back of the prone MkII. He made up his mind at that instant.
"Yoko, go help Dorjan and the others. I'll take the last MkII." He panned his targeting computer but could not get a visual on the last MkII.
"Scratch that! I'm not letting you take a heavy all by yourself! Besides, we're a team!"
L'Cor was about to order Yoko to stay away from the last MkII, but then decided that he didn't have time to argue. Yoko was going to do whatever the frak she wanted no matter what he had to say on the matter. "Fine. Fly high and get me a visual."
"I knew you'd see things my way!" Yoko's image blew him a kiss before it winked out.
L'Cor chuckled to himself. He still had his link to the BRP hovering over the city so he already had a visual. At least this way, Yoko was safely out of the line of fire for the next several minutes.
The last MkII had wandered off the planned route. In fact, it was heading back out of the city in what was clearly a hasty retreat. He was briefly tempted to let the MkII go, but knew that it was better to take it out now while its pilot was still shaken up.
He still didn't have a clear shot at the retreating figure so he would have to chase it down. He thought about bringing the heavy hyper velocity cannon along but in order for his Wyv'en to use it properly, he would have to stop, set it down, aim and fire. He decided that he wouldn't have time to do that if he were chasing the other MAAC.
He grabbed a pair of heavy auto cannon and jumped off the building. Once up in the air, he zoomed in on the retreating MAAC and could barely make out the telltale blocky shapes of missile launcher on its shoulders. That gave the MkII an enormous advantage in a long range duel. He would have to get in closer if he wanted to do enough damage to bring down the MkII.
He boosted just above the buildings along the street at top speed and managed to close the distance quickly. Suddenly, his communicator was alive with yells and cheers. "It's down! It's down!"
L'Cor toggled his BRP screen and saw that Dorjan and his people had successfully brought down their MkII. Its legs were a mangled mess but the torso was definitely salvageable.
Alarms suddenly rang inside his cockpit. He snapped his attention back to his main HUD in time to see a double flight of missiles headed his way. He cursed himself for coming in big and stupid and did the only thing he could. He fired both of his auto cannons, engaged his anti missile laser and prayed that it would be enough.
It was not enough.
L'Cor distinctly felt at least six impacts before his Wyv'en tumbled out of the air and crashed into the ground. His combat harness kept him from dying a messy death inside of his own cockpit. He must have blacked out for several precious seconds because the next thing he knew, he was staring up at pair of rapid fire auto cannons wielded by one gigantic Drac'en MkII.
He held his breath as he waited to dieâ¦but nothing happened. Puzzled, he zoomed his HUD until he saw a blue glow emanating from the centre of the MkII's chest. The blue glow emerged from the chest plate and revealed itself to be the tip of a monofilament cutter. As he watched in shocked surprise, the MFC withdrew and the MkII fell forward onto its face.
Yoko's Grif'cen straightened up from a fencing style lunge and deactivated its MFC. Yoko's grinning face appeared on his communicator screen as she tartly said, "Having a senior's moment old man? Nice try, but you're not the only one who can link with the BRP!"
He started to laugh but his head felt as if it were still spinning out of control. "Don't try to move. Ivan is on his way with a trailer." This time, Yoko's voice was tinged with concern and she had a worried expression on her face.
L'Cor waved his hand weakly and his Wyv'en's hand obediently copied the movement. He still didn't trust his voice to speak but he didn't have to. Even in his befuddled state, he could do simple math. All eight of the enemy MAACs were down. It had cost him four Tournament players and their Micks, but they had done it. They had won!
Chapter 19 Fast Forward and an Old Friend
The sound of a beeping chirp woke L'Cor from his deep and exhausted sleep. After the battle, he had spent several hours explaining the presence of R'Tus's Wyv'en to Yoko as best as he could. After she finally seemed to accept the story, they had fallen asleep on his bed, curled up against each other, too tired to make love once more.
Now however, it would appear as if his well deserved rest had come to an end. The beeping was coming from Yoko's phone and he reached for it with a weary hand and turned it on.
Ivan's image appeared on the small screen and he had a startled expression on his face, "L'Cor? Oh, well goodâ¦uh, I was looking for you."
L'Cor rubbed his eyes and then forced them open. "Me? But you're calling Yoko's phone oh, uh never mind. What's up?"
"We were running some diagnostics on your Wyv'en and well, I think we triggered something. It's a message for youâ¦from R'Tus."
Suddenly, L'Cor mind woke up all the way. "R'Tus?"
"Yeah, it's another one of those pre-recorded messages but it's weird."
"What's weird about it?"
"Well, R'Tus has asked that you bring his journal to the Wyv'enâ¦something about fast forwarding the entries or something. Can you please come?"
"Sure, I'll be right there."
L'Cor shut the phone off and got out of bed. There was a moan from Yoko and he glanced back down at her. The comforter had slid off her nude body and he briefly played with the idea of getting back into bed with her. Instead, he pulled the comforter until it was snug around her body, gave her a quick kiss on her forehead and then got dressed.
Five minutes later, he was sitting in the combat harness of his brother's Wyv'en. The hatch was open and both Ivan and Alain were crouched upon it, eagerly waiting for something to happen. As with the previous message, R'Tus's face was somewhat more mature than the recordings on the journal, as if there were several orbits difference between the two. Right now, his image was frozen on the HUD and as L'Cor turned on the journal, R'Tus's face suddenly began to speak.
"Ah good! Well L'Cor, if you're seeing this, then that means my plan is working so far. You have no idea how hard it is to plan events from three thousand years in the past! Anyway, I know that I was still somewhat befuddled most of the times when I was making those recordings in my journal, but let me summarize what you should know by now. No, I did not die from the thernuke. Yes I was transported magically into the past. Yes, magic does exist. Maybe not so much in the future where you are, but here in the past, it is still pretty prevalent."
R'Tus's image rubbed his eyes and L'Cor could see many lines on the face of his brother. "Things are not all that bad here. I have found a new life, one that has had its ups and downs, but ultimately has proven to be very rewarding. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The reason for this message is this: I need your help."
L'Cor opened his mouth to protest but R'Tus's image forestalled him. "Yes, I know. How in Hadis' stinking armpit are you supposed to help me? You probably have problems of your own to deal with. All I can say is this: The world that you live in and the world that I live in is not no so very far apart. We are connected in strangely magical ways that I cannot even begin to decipher let alone explain. Anyway, I cannot tell you what I need done. I can only show you the path and let history take its course. Hold up my journal please."
L'Cor did as he was told and R'Tus's image said, "Unlock hidden entries. Pass code: Euther."
The journal in L'Cor's hand chimed and scrolled to a series of entries that he had never seen before. On the HUD, R'Tus's image spoke one more time. "Just watch the journal entries that I've unlocked. You will know what to do when the time comes. Oh, and make sure that you're heavily armed."
R'Tus's image on the HUD winked out just as the journal started to play. A younger version of R'Tus one that was more familiar to L'Cor began to speak.
Start of Entry Orbit: 1022 (I think), Moon: Summertime, Solar Cycle: Does it matter?
As far as I can tell, I've been in the past for about six orbits. Six orbits of carving a name for me as Princess Gaya's protector. Not that she really needed much protecting most of the time. She was very good with a sword, and she rode a drac'en as if she were born on the saddle. Still, dangerous creatures and other types of assassins would magically appear without warning at times. This Farad character must be spending obscene amounts of power in his efforts to kill Princess Gaya. Every time an attack was about to occur, some sort of six sense would warn me and I was always able to meet these attacks in the safety of my MAAC.
I'm still leery about killing humans who are obviously no match for me in combat, but I've gotten somewhat used to by now. Besides, I've equalized the playing field a bit by only using Callus, the sword given to me by King Auril. My MFC remains propped in a corner in the room that Gaya and I share in Camu Castle.
My Wyv'en seriously needs some maintenance though. Without any proper facilities though, there's just no way I can properly maintain it. Sure the engine and power are in no danger of dying out, but the joints need some serious lubricating. I've done what I can with the maintenance kit in my Wyv'en's storage compartment and for now, it'll have to do. I've brought this up with Malin on more than one occasion but he just smiles enigmatically and walks away.
As for the war, I know that it is coming into its final stages. The combined allied armies of Camu and her neighbours have pushed the Morda forces back. Pretty soon now, I know that Emperor Morda, otherwise known as the Immortal Emperor will issue his challenge. The war will end with a duel between the Black Knight and the Immortal. None of the history texts I've read seem to agree on what happened during this duel. Some say that Morda won because he couldn't die and that Gaya ended up imprisoning him for all time in a secret location. Others say that the Black Knight won but he soon died from his injuries. Maybe that was another way of saying that my Wyv'en stopped functioning? That sounds pretty plausible.
As for Princess Gayaâ¦well, I didn't know what love was before. Now however, I can honestly say that I love her more than I could have thought possible. I'm pretty sure she feels the same but it's completely impossible for us to do anything about it.
Over the orbits, on those long campaign nights, we've talked to each other about everything. I've told her more than I've told anyone including L'Cor and Q'Wen. Heck, I've even told her things from my childhood that I'm sure everyone thought I had forgotten. That's how close we'd become. Sometimes the desire to reach out and hold her is so great that I can do nothing but curse in frustration.
We have not gone so far as to declare our feelings to each other. To do so would be pointless, right?
One day, while our army was about ten days away from the Mordue capital (the city was called Mordue too these guys were definitely unimaginative when it came to names!), Malin pulled me aside for a private talk.
The army was passing through a mountainous region and Malin and I climbed up one of the nearby hills and took a long walk over the paths. Eventually, we came upon a large valley. Strangely enough, it reminded of the valley in the Badlands where I had slowed a major Saxx advance back in the future.
"What is thy fondest wish Sir Black?" asked Malin in a tired voice. I'd noticed that lately, Malin had been getting frailer and frailer. It was common knowledge in the army that the old man's time was almost up.
"To be with Gaya," I said immediately.
Malin smiled faintly and nodded his head, as if I had simply confirmed something that he had already known. "Princess Gaya loves thee as much as you love her."
My heart soared to hear this but then it sank almost immediately as I considered my situation. "I'm not much of a companion to her as you may have noticed."
Malin coughed loudly before saying, "I have enough magic for one more spell Sir Black. It is up to you on how I should use it."
"Up to me?", Malin was looking at me expectantly again. I had become quite accustomed to that look. It was the look that a teacher would give to his prize student to goad that student into finding his own answers. "In other words, you can send me home right? Or, if I choose, I can remain here in the past, but you can return me to my original size."
Malin smiled but inclined his head. I knew there was more. "There's more though isn't there? You want me to do something. If you could have returned me to my size all this time, then there's a reason why you have not done so before now." Another smile but this time I was stumped. What did Malin want from me? And if he could have enlarged me before now, why hadn't he? Why torment me for six orbits?
Then it hit me. He needed me. Or, more accurately, he needed me inside my machine but he had to conceal the fact that I was from the future. Why?
Suddenly, the reason why didn't matter to me. All that mattered was that I could finally be with the woman I loved with my entire being! I opened my mouth to shout out my desireâ¦
And then I stopped. What would be the point? I still couldn't be with Gaya. She was destined to marry a Mordue prince and unite the continent. As the Black Knight, I was fated to fight the Immortal Emperor and perhaps die in the duel. Why not just go home now and be done with it?
Malin was looking through my head module as if he could see the man inside the MAAC. Frak me, he probably could! Suddenly, my heart was filled with homesickness. I missed L'Cor and Q'Wen. I can almost see their faces when they found out that I had returned from the dead. Wouldn't that be something? I could go home!
"I want to be with Gaya," The words were out of my mouth before I even realized it. After I said it though, I realized that it was what I wanted, even more than going home. "I don't care if I'm with her as a friend, lover or soldier. I don't care if it's for a day, a moon or an orbit. I love her and I want to be close to her. Return me to my normal size!"
Malin smiled and bobbed his head. "Thou have just saved this world from destruction with that decision. Now, only the work remains."
Huh? What the frak did that mean?
Malin held up his hands in front of him. Between his palms, a translucent bubble formed out of thin air. Within this bubble were tiny moving insects.
Wait a minute! Those were not insects! Insects don't move like that!
I zoomed my HUD closer and what I saw froze my blood. The things inside the bubble had three legs and walked with a weird triple gait. Many wore unpowered armour but the grand majority did not. There were about fifty of them, and while these early versions did not seem to have power armour, fifty Saxx with modern weapons were more than enough to dominate this primitive world.
All of a sudden, I knew that my duel with the Immortal Emperor was the least of my worries. Armed with only my MFC, there was no way I could take on a fifty Saxx and live.
End of Entry
The journal entry ended so abruptly that L'Cor wasn't sure at first that it was over. He was about to open the next entry when there was a commotion by the main hangar gate. There was a rumbling sound as the gate swung open and a large MAAC stepped through and into the hangar.
L'Cor almost jumped into action until he saw the emblem of the Royal Gayan Armed Forces boldly displayed on the shoulders of the MAAC. Then he noticed the battle damage.
As the MAAC turned and faced him straight on, L'Cor saw that there was an actual hole in the left torso of the Drac'en MkII. Also, the MAAC's left arm terminated at the elbow and from what he could see, it did not look as if the arm had be blown off by a projectile weapon. Instead, it looked as if someone had gotten close with a MFC and chopped the arm off.
Ivan looked up as the MkII approached and said, "Ah, good, she's here!"
"Who?"
Alain had already climbed down the Wyv'en's ladder and was approaching the newcomer. The MkII stopped and its chest plate opened with a hiss of escaping gas. Unlike older models, the chest plate of the MkII opened upwards, so the first thing of the pilot that L'Cor saw was a pair of finely toned legs that seemed to go on for miles. After the legs came a thin waist, a generous bosom, and then a beautiful sweating face surrounded by short red hair.
Ivan waved to the pilot and then said to L'Cor, "I believe you already know Major Liselle Tenshen. She contacted us while you were asleep."
Liselle smiled tiredly and waved, "Hello L'Cor. Long time no see!" She hit an unseen switch and a ladder extended down from her cockpit.
Alain climbed up the ladder and began to help Liselle get unstrapped from her machine. L'Cor was still somewhat speechless so Ivan continued with his explanation. "Liselle's force consisted of a tri-quad of Drac'en MkII's. Her orders were to negotiate some sort of settlement with the Black Prince and to take him out if an opportunity presented itself."
As Ivan spoke, he climbed down the Wyv'en's ladder and gestured for L'Cor to follow. "At least we solved the mystery as to the location of the stolen Had'ras."
Once on the ground, Liselle greeted L'Cor with a warm hug and a kiss on his cheek. L'Cor found himself lost in memories because Liselle was the last person he had expected to see. Memories of a Liselle from R'Tus's journal as well as his own personal memories of the real person clashed in his mind. "Uh, it's good to see you Liselle. How's your sister?"
At that moment, L'Cor heard the sound of someone clearing her throat and glanced around to see Yoko standing not ten feet away. He quickly pulled away from Liselle and gestured to Yoko to come over.
"Cinda is doing fine L'Cor. She's just had her second baby. A boy this time and she's named him after R'Tus."
Yoko came up and put an arm around L'Cor's waist. "Uh, Yoko, this is an old army buddy of mine and R'Tus. Liselle, this is Yoko, the current reigning champion of the Tournament."
Liselle smiled a broad smile and said, "Yoko Ana? I am so pleased to meet you. I've followed your exploits rather closely. You're something of a hero back in my home town!" She shook Yoko's hand vigorously and enthusiastically.
Yoko smiled back but L'Cor could feel some tension in the arm that was holding him. Was Yoko jealous? He'd better defuse the situation fast. "After R'Tus ahâ¦moved on, Liselle and I became friends and we kept in somewhat contact after the war was over. We lost touch though after I left the service."
Yoko's armed loosened its grip somewhat but the tension didn't leave entirely. Liselle's eyes scanned the hangar and when she saw the Wyv'en behind L'Cor, she gasped and said, "Is that what I think it is? But "
"Long story Liselle. We'll fill you in later, promise." Ivan interrupted Liselle's question and then added, "We really need to know the current situation. Let's go into a briefing room ok?"
As the group trouped over to a nearby briefing room, L'Cor put his arm around Yoko's shoulder and whispered in her ear, "We were only friends. Liselle was too in love with R'Tus."
The tension seemed to flow out of Yoko's body with those words. She smiled and whispered back, "I love you."
"I love you too," said L'Cor.
Once inside of the room, Ivan closed the door while Alain turned on a monitor and switched it over to a news broadcast. On the screen was a slender young man with a haughty face and an arrogant expression. He was addressing the camera the way a monarch would address oppressed subjects. "I am Prince Morda, direct descendant of the Immortal Emperor. I have won a great victory against the forces of the usurper otherwise known as Empress Dana. I hereby declare this city to be mine by conquest. Through me, Mordue will rise once more and take back what was stolen!"
Alain turned the volume down as the self proclaimed Prince Morda continued to rant. "Sorry, but that's what's been clogging up the all the channels for the last several hours."
The image on the screen changed and L'Cor hissed in surprise when he caught a glimpse of four huge MAACs. These MAACs were bigger than anything he'd ever seen before. The head unit sat upon an unsually long neck which in turn sat on a large broad chest. Two large cylindrical weapons stood on either side of the head unit. It was obvious that these MAACs got their names from the nearly extinct Had'ra.
"Those are the MAACs that ambushed my force," said Liselle in a hushed voice. "I'm the only survivor of my tri-quad."
"Wait a sec! How the hell did four experimental MAACs take out eleven Drac'en MkII's piloted by the finest pilots in the RGAF?" L'Cor couldn't hide his incredulousness at the idea.
Liselle sighed wearily before continuing. "Ivan filled me in on your battle yesterday. I don't want to sound like I'm belittling your accomplishment. Taking out eight MAACs with what you had was amazing. But you have to understand that the pilots in the force that attacked me were all ex-military. They were all veterans. Plus, those rail guns on the shoulders of the Had'ras can fire a new type of experimental ammunition called MFP."
"What's a MFP?" asked Yoko.
"A monofilament projectile is a new type of weapon based upon tried and true technology." Ivan got up, went over to a whiteboard hanging on the wall and began drawing. "Basically, you take a very large calibre HVC but instead of loading it solid slugs, you load it with a specially designed mini monofilament cutter."
Yoko snapped her fingers and exclaimed, "Like that Grif'cen that I took out! The pilot threw his MFC at me, and even that simple move embedded his MFC in my chest plate!"
Ivan nodded solemnly. "Exactly. Imagine now though, that you accelerate that cutter to what a normal HVC slug is capable off."
Yoko gasped. "It would slice through the thickest armour as if it were paper!"
L'Co,r remember the hole in the chest of Liselle's MkII as well as the amputated left arm. "Frak!", He swore vehemently. "What chance do we have? Those four Had'ras can take out anything with a single well placed shot!"
"Wait everyone!" said Alain suddenly. "We need to hear this!" He turned the volume of the broadcast back up.
Prince Morda had worked himself up to a frenzy and he was shouting, "I call for the rebels who blatantly attacked my forces yesterday to surrender themselves at once! You will submit to me or suffer the consequences! You will come to City Hall and surrender yourselves to my mercy! If you do not, I will start executing the people of this city, beginning with your family and friends!"
Alain turned the volume down again because the Black Prince was starting to work himself up into another frenzy. "What do we do? We have three MAAC pilots, two damaged MAACs and two undamaged ones."
L'Cor cocked his head to look at Liselle. "What do you think about trading in your MkII for an undamaged Grif'cen? I know it wasn't your favourite MAAC, but your MkII from what I could see is in no shape for another battle any time soon."
Liselle grimaced. "As long as I don't have to fly the frakkin thing, I'll be fine."
"Wait! Wait, wait, wait!" Everyone turned to look at Yoko. "Are you seriously thinking about fighting them? That'll be suicide! Not to mention the collateral damage! This is my city we're talking about!"
"Yes we have to fight Yoko," explained L'Cor evenly. "If we don't show up, that 「illegitimate child」's crazy enough to start arbitrarily executing citizens. If we surrender, we're as good as dead. I'd rather fight." He looked over at Ivan and asked, "Can you use your underground contacts to start evacuating the downtown area quietly?"
Ivan nodded but Yoko was not done yet. "Wait. This Black Prince guy frequents the red light district right? Why can't we just ask Madam Rouge to have one of her girls kill the 「illegitimate child」 in his sleep?"
Ivan had a sad expression on his face as he fielded Yoko's question. "Yoko, you've killed before, we all know that. But that was either in the Tournament, self defence or in the heat of combat. Deep inside though, you are not a cold blooded killer. Do you honestly think one of Madam Rouge's girls can do what you're asking?"
Yoko's eyes welled up as she considered Ivan's words and their implications. L'Cor quickly put his arm around her shoulders. "It's ok Yoko. Besides, we have no idea if the Black Prince even plans to get his rocks off tonight."
"Liselle, when can we expect reinforcements from the RGAF?" asked L'Cor.
Liselle shook her head sadly. "Not for at least a couple of days. Plan B was to send in a team of commandos to take out the Black Prince in his sleep, but that'll take some time to set up. Besides, I think they're monitoring most of the command frequencies. There's no guarantee we can catch them by surprise."
"Frak!" said L'Cor with feeling. He sighed deeply and said, "I don't see a lot of choices." He glance down and Yoko and asked, "I don't suppose there's much chance of asking you to sit this one out?"
Yoko glared back and said, "Not on your life!"
L'Cor smiled and then looked to Liselle, "I know you've just been through a lot. Care to take another swing at these 「illegitimate child」s?"
Liselle gave him a thumbs up and said, "You betcha!"
Ivan cleared his throat. "City Hall is in the downtown district. That area is mostly commercial and all businesses have pretty much stopped since the attack. Most people will be in their homes."
"Good," said L'Cor. He was thinking hard and many of his thoughts were only half articulated when he started to express them. "Ok, Ivan and Alain, we need both Grif'cens and the Wyv'en prepped and ready to go."
"Won't be a problem," said Ivan. "The Wyv'en was a little banged up but most of the damage was done to the armour."
L'Cor nodded absentmindedly. No one mentioned that against MFP's, fully repaired armour wouldn't make much difference. "Give them a full weapons load out."
"Sure thing, what's the plan?"
"Simple. Liselle, Yoko and I will present ourselves the Black Prince. While we have his attention, Dorjan and the rest of the Tournament players will sneak in behind the Had'ras and take out their knees."
"That's not much of a plan L'Cor," said Ivan grimly.
L'Cor shrugged his shoulders. "I don't have time to get fancy. The longer we wait, the more likely that this crazy 「illegitimate child」 will take it out on the population."
There was silence in the room as everyone considered L'Cor's words. Deep down, they all knew that he was correct.
"I'll need a couple of hours," said Ivan.
"That's fine. Liselle, make yourself at home. Grab a bite and try to get some rest. We leave as soon as our MAACs are ready. Ivan, can you call Dorjan and the others here? I need to brief them."
"You get some rest too," said Ivan with an inclined head in Yoko's direction. "I'll brief the others."
L'Cor was about to protest but a subtle but firm pressure from Yoko made him rethink it. Instead, he said, "Thanks. That's it for now. We'll regroup in a couple of hours."
With that, Yoko took a firm grip on his hand and proceeded to lead him out of the room. On the way out, he caught a glimpse of amused expressions on the faces of Ivan, Alain and Liselle.
Back in his room, they made love with a fierce passion that exceeded their lovemaking from the night before. No words were said about what was to come. None were needed.
When the call came from Ivan that the MAACs were ready, they got dressed into their neural suits, shared one last intense hug and left for the hangar and their meeting with destiny.
Chapter 20 Collision with Destiny
L'Cor glanced around New Neomar as he and his companions walked their MAACs into the downtown area. There were obvious signs of past fighting, but the damage to the city in general was not that bad. With luck, the Black Skull forces had not noticed the Micks under OC that had preceded them into the city. His plan was simple, but he had no illusions about his ability to survive it. Right now, his priority was to disable as many of the Had'ras as possible so that future actions against the Black Skull would be easier.
Oh, and it would be nice to minimize damage to the city, mused L'Cor. The Had'ras were experimental MAACs, and as such, they still had weaknesses that had to be ironed out before full production. Specifically, the knee joints on the beasts were somewhat weak. L'Cor had armed Tournament players' Micks with HVC's in the hopes that they could immobilize the Had'ras enough for L'Cor and his team to have a shot at taking down the monsters.
His Wyv'en was armed with a pair of HVC's and his MFC was docked on his back. Both Liselle and Yoko were similarly armed. He personally doubted that he would live long enough to use the MFC but it was comforting to have his brother's favourite weapon with him.
As L'Cor approached the large building that was City Hall, he noted how closely the four Had'ra MAACs were positioned. He snorted in a self-mockingly kind of way. Too bad his skills with a MFC were not as good as his brother's. If R'Tus were here, he could probably cut down all four Had'ras before they had a chance to fire!
L'Cor and his team stopped about one hundred feet away from the enemy MAACs. One Had'ra stepped forward with an arrogant strut and the Black Prince's face appeared on L'Cor's communicator screen.
"I am Prince Morda! I hereby declare you to be outlaws and I command "
Whatever else the Black Prince was going to say, L'Cor did not hear it. Suddenly, his world seemed to be enveloped in a flash of intense light.
*
His optical sensors shut down in response and for several seconds, L'Cor sat in complete darkness. After what seemed like an eternity though, his sensors eventually rebooted and he was able to see where he was.
However, he was not where he thought he was. He was somewhere else entirely. Feeling almost like a character in a long ago children's story, L'Cor panned his head unit around as he took in his surroundings.
"L'Cor! What happened? Where are we?"
L'Cor glanced at his communicator screen and said, "I'm not sure Yoko, but I don't think we're in New Neomar anymore!"
The trio of MAACs stood at the head of a large valley. L'Cor was reminded somehow of the Badlands back during the war.
Liselle's face appeared on his communicator screen. "L'Cor, do you see that?"
He linked his secondary monitor to Liselle's Grif'cen and watched as Liselle zoomed in on an area on the valley floor. His blood froze as he saw the dozens of three legged figures marching down the valley.
"Oh frak! What in Hade's stinking armpit are Saxx doing here?" Suddenly, thought of where he was disappeared as old war habits kicked in at the sight of his old enemy. "Liselle, Yoko! Form up on me. Delta formation!"
Liselle's MAAC complied instantly but Yoko's face appeared on his screen with a confused look. "Uh, fearless leader? What's a Delta formation?"
L'Cor swore under his breath. "Never mind that. Yoko, get in the air. I don't see many heavy weapons in the Saxx force. Liselle, you're with me. We'll hit them as Yoko makes her strafing run!"
Yoko's Grif'cen leapt into the air as L'Cor and Liselle started a quick loping run. L'Cor contacted Yoko again and said, "Be careful Yoko. Fighting Saxx is not quite like fighting people. Tournament rules do not apply here. Target the beasts in armour first. And for Gaya's sake, don't stop moving. If they get a bead on you, they'll swamp you with coordinated fire."
Yoko looked as if she wanted to crack a joke, but instead, she said, "I understand. You be careful too ok?"
He gave her a nod and the contacted Liselle. "Just like old times Lis!"
Liselle gave him a wild grin. "I don't know where we are, and I don't know what the frak is going on, but it's good to have an open battlefield!"
L'Cor pulled his arms out from their sockets long enough to type several commands into his keyboard. "I've synched my targeting computer to your Grif'cen. Stay on my wing and hit anything that I'm not hitting."
Liselle simply said "affirmative," but her grin told L'Cor that she was slightly amused that he had automatically assumed the leadership role even though he was no longer in the military.
From that moment on, L'Cor acted on instinct. He had fought the Saxx for so long that he knew, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that the Saxx force had to be destroyed completely. His HUD showed the estimated number of Saxx to be no more than fifty, so he knew that this was just an scouting party Still, if any Saxx survived to communicate back to whatever passed for their homeworld, then fifty would soon become fifty thousand.
As he came into attack range, two things seemed somewhat odd to him. First, was the complete lack of powered armour among the ranks of Saxx. Second, and though he was no expert in Saxx psychology, was the apparent shocked reaction of the Saxx force as he and Liselle opened fire.
L'Cor was used to Saxx who fought in tightly wound teams. He was used to Saxx who moved and fired in coordinated groups. He was used to Saxx whose discipline in the middle of combat made them seem more like machines rather than giant alien beings. What he was not used to were Saxx who ran about helter skelter in undeniable panic.
He and Liselle fired their HVC's into the mass of Saxx and it was like shooting turk'as on a firing range. Yoko's strafing run was announced by a flight of missiles that added to the panic and devastation that L'Cor and Liselle were causing.
Despite the obvious confusion amongst the Saxx though, L'Cor made no attempt to get closer and engage with his MFC. It was obvious that he currently had the advantage of both range and surprise and getting into the middle of that mess was a sure way to get himself killed.
Yoko's Grif'cen came screaming back in on another attack run, but this time, she slowed her velocity and cut loose with more missiles and a barrage of auto-cannon fire.
After several minutes, L'Cor's HUD showed no more hostiles. It couldn't have even been considered a battle. It was more of a massacre. None of the Saxx had even tried to fight back because the shock of seeing armed and armoured assailants was too severe for them to handle.
"Yoko! Get up into the air and see if you can find their ship. We have to make sure its destroyed too!"
Without a word, Yoko fired her afterburners and headed away. L'Cor contacted Liselle and said, "I know you hate flying, but see if you can help Yoko. We don't want any of them to get away."
Liselle grimaced but said, "Roger!" Her Grif'cen shifted its body parts until it resembled a large armoured aircraft.
Before she could take off though, a giant explosion seemed to reverberate throughout the valley. "Yoko, are you alright?"
Yoko's face came on his display. She had a huge grin on her face. "Nothing to it, oh fearless leader. I found the ship and it was completely unprotected. I though Saxx were supposed to be tougher opponents?"
L'Cor gave her a shrug and said, "Who knows. Get back here on the double."
Yoko's Grif'cen flew back and converted to ground assault mode in mid air. It rode its jump jets down until its feet were firmly planted on the ground.
Liselle had converted her Grif'cen back as well. "What the frak is going on L'Cor? One minute we were about the face our fates at City Hall, and the next minute we're slaughtering a bunch of Saxx! Where are we?"
Now that the action was over, L'Cor took some time to really observe his surroundings and to mull over everything that had happened. There was no sign of modern civilization for as far as his sensors could see. The Saxx had reacted as if they had never seen MAACs. Their equipment had seemedâ¦well for a lack better wordâ¦primitive. A sinking feeling assaulted his gut as he said, "I think the more important question is, when are we?"
Just then, blinding light flared up all around the trio of MAACs. L'Cor squeezed his eyes shut but overrode his MAAC's automatic shut down of his sensors. Instead, he dimmed the reception until he could just barely see. Unfortunately, there wasn't much for him to see. The three MAACs were bathed in light. There was no ground and no sky. There was only light.
Something seemed to be approaching him though. He turned his attention to it as it approached and his heart skipped a beat as he recognized the shape of another Wyv'en. The Wyv'en had obviously seen better days, but it appeared to be intact. In fact, it looked very familiar to L'Cor.
Could it be?
L'Cor reached up a hand as if to touch the other Wyv'en as it passed, but his MAAC's armoured hand seemed to pass right through his brother's machine. L'Cor reached out in a vain attempt to touch the other MAAC and then, as suddenly as it had arrived, the light vanished and R'Tus's Wyv'en was gone as well.
*
Alright, I only have a short time to record my thoughts. Oh frak! What the frak happened to me?
Where do I start? Well, without much fanfare, Malin cast his spell that restored me to my right size. He was also nice enough to magically transport my MFC here as well. I remember feeling a bit of a perverse delight when I realized that I was in fact taller than him. Yeah, I knowâ¦whatever.
Anyway, I jumped into my Wyv'en and made my way to where Malin shown me. On the way there, I was still trying to figure out what kind of tactic I could use. I didn't have many options. The only thing I could think of was that these Saxx were obviously a lot more primitive than their future counterparts. This must be some sort of early exploratory force. Still, armed with only my MFC, fifty to one odds did not seem survivable. I may get lucky and kill a dozen or so, but the rest were sure to figure out that there was only one of me and get their act together. Well, I'd always wanted to go down fighting impossible odds, right? Not!
I reached the valley without incident and I perched on the side of a mountain as I analyzed the force below me. I was just calculating my next move when this incredible light surrounded me. A second before my sensors shut down, I realized that I had seen this light before.
When the light was disappeared, I was no longer on the mountain looking down at the valley. I was in some kind of modern day city. I was back in the future!
As soon as I realized that however, I was confronted by four huge MAACs of a design I didn't recognize. For a split second, I experienced déjà vu, and I had to give myself a shake. Yes, these were MAACs and not men in armour!
A face appeared on my communicator and was shouting something on the all bands frequency. "I am Prince Morda! I hereby declare you to be outlaws and I command you to lay down your arms or I will start executing citizens!"
Prince Morda? As in the Mordue empire? What the frak was going on? Did I jump into an alternate future where the Mordue won the war?
The lead MAAC stepped forward and the two long barrelled weapons on either side of the long head unit lowered in a menacing manner. It didn't take a genius to know what its intentions were, and where MAAC tactics were concerned, I was pretty darned close to being a genius.
My MFC was in my hand even before the long barrelled weapons completed their descent into firing position. As I moved, I grinned savagely. It had been a long time since I didn't have to hold back! Also, it was awfully nice of these mysterious MAACs to position themselves so close to each other!
Something flashed over my shoulder as I ducked and closed the distance. I didn't pause to give it another thought.
My MFC drew a blazing blue wave as it arced upward. It sliced through one of the long barrelled weapons near the base. The resultant explosion surprised me a bit, but I was already beyond the first MAAC. It was clear, whatever these weapons were, a critical hit on one of them caused them to explode cataclysmically.
There were three more MAACs in my field of vision. Instead of an emblem for the Royal Gayan Armed Forces though, these MAACs sported a black skull, which from my experience over the last six orbits, I knew to be the banner of the Mordue empire.
The three MAACs already had their weapons in firing position so I put all other thoughts into the back of my mind. My next target, I decided subconsciously, would be the MAAC in the middle.
I leapt into the air and somersaulted forward. I briefly noted several lines of bright light flashing through the empty space where I had been. As I turned in midair and faced forward once more, I lanced out with my MFC and bisected the centre MAAC. It wasn't enough to destroy the MAAC though, so when I landed on my feet, I ducked and cut through the MAACs left knee.
I let my momentum carry me to my right and launched myself at the MAAC there. My MFC pierced through the chest plate and I deactivated it for a second. With my MFC stuck in the MAAC, I twisted my body around which had the effect of turning the massive MAAC that I had impaled. When I had turned the MAAC around enough so that it was between me and the last enemy, I reactivated my MFC and pulled it out. I saw two large holes suddenly appear in the torso of the MAAC and it suddenly dawned on me that these MAACs must be shooting some sort of small MFC projectile at HVC speeds. If I had stopped to really think about it, I think I would have scared myself silly!
The last MAAC was almost two hundred feet away. The back of my mind was calculating the chances that I could reach the last MAAC before it fired again. I decided that it would be closeâ¦maybe too close. As I ran and closed the distance, I flipped my MFC around and then hurled it at the enemy MAAC as if it were a javelin. I let my forward motion carry me down and I tucked and rolled as a last ditch effort to avoid being hit.
It must have worked because I didn't get hit. When I got back onto my feet, I saw that the last MAAC was staggering a bit and then it fell backward. My MFC had skewered the MAAC right in the centre of its chest plate.
I walked over and recovered my weapon. I deactivated it and clipped it back onto my back.
The first MAAC that I took down moved ever so slightly and I approached it cautiously. I could see a small figure crawling away from the open chest hatch. This, I surmised, could be none other than Prince Morda, the descendant of my enemy. Should I crush him?
I've never killed an unarmed opponent before and it's a good thing I never had the chance to seriously consider it. As with before, a blinding white light engulfed me and I left the modern world.
Something strange happened after that though. During my time travel back, I managed to turn on my sensors ever so slightly. What I saw though, left me dumbfounded. I had the sense that I was traveling in a straight line, although there was no visual proof of that. What I saw coming towards me though, was three familiar MAACs. Two of them were Grif'cens and the third was a Wyv'en and not just any Wyv'en either. It looked very much like mine! What the frak?
The Wyv'en reached out with a hand but that hand passed right through me. I tried to turn to follow the trio's progress but they quickly passed out of sight.
Well, that's all I can say about that adventure. My next one looms ahead of me. This time though, I will be on my own, in the flesh. And, there will be no help from the magical department either.
Ohâ¦wait, that sound you hear in the background is the funeral horns. Malin did not live long after I got back from the future. I guess that little spell of his really took its toll on the old man.
Even the joy in Gaya's eyes at seeing me restored to my own size has been overshadowed by Malin's death. Even worse though, is that somehow, Emperor Morda has caught wind of Malin's passing and has issued a challenge for one on one combat to end the war.
As I am Princess Gaya's champion, I have accepted his challenge. Tomorrow, I shall face my true destiny.
Signing off.
Chapter 21 Endings and Beginnings
Almost two weeks later, L'Cor sighed deeply as he reclined on Yoko's old but comfortable couch. Yoko sighed contently and leaned against his shoulder. The last several days had been a nightmare of pomp and circumstance.
The Empress herself had insisted on meeting with the unlikely group of heroes who had saved New Neomar and ended an insurrection before it could begin.
Empress Dana had been very generous with the rewards. Among them was a royal order for Yoko's sister Kasa to receive the very best medical attention in Camu, the capital of the Empire. Jan, and Ivan were still there monitoring Kasa's progress while L'Cor had finally persuaded Yoko that her sister was in good hands.
Other rewards had included monetary grants, as well as elevation to nobility. At this thought, L'Cor glanced at his Star of Knighthood that sat proudly in its gold case on the coffee table and shook his head ruefully.
When he had embarked on his quest to fade away from life, the last thing he had expected was to find a lovely woman to love, win the gratitude of the Empress, and most of all, reconnect with this brother.
During some private discussions with the Empress, L'Cor had shown Empress Dana some of the entries in R'Tus's journal. After viewing a few, Empress Dana had asked if she could make a copy of the journal. L'Cor, of course, had readily agreed.
Yoko shifted uncomfortably as L'Cor raised the remote for the holo-tube and turned it on. "How come, the first thing you do when you get home is to turn on the holo?"
"Because I'm an insensitive man," said L'Cor with a grin.
The holo was showing a news report and at the moment, the biggest news on the planet was an amateur recording of the famous battle at New Neomar's City Hall.
L'Cor sniffed amusedly. Battle was too big a word. The entire action only lasted several seconds. R'Tus had lost none of his skill as he dispatched four experimental heavy assault MAACs as if they were toys.
Of course, the general public did not know that R'Tus had come back from the dead to save the city. Because L'Cor and R'Tus had been piloting the same MAAC, the actual credit for saving the city had gone to L'Cor.
At first, L'Cor had been uncomfortable with this, but Empress Dana had very firmly ordered him to think of the whole incident as being classified Top Secret. She had not given any details and L'Cor had not felt inclined to ask for more. Besides, it's not as if he could easily explain to the whole world that his brother had returned from the dead no from the past and saved the Empire!
Yoko reached up and took the remote away from him. "I still think it's odd."
"Hmm? What's that love?"
Yoko gestured to the images on the holo. "Now that I've seen your brother in action, how can you honestly say that I'm as good as him? I mean, look at him! If I didn't know better, I'd think he was simply dressed in armour. His movements are so fluid and natural!"
L'Cor kissed Yoko's forehead and said, "Don't forget that he's had many years of training and experience in piloting a MAAC. This reminds me. Are you really going to go through with your plans?"
"You mean to retire from the Tournament? Of course! Now that I don't have to risk my 「bum-bum」, I'm not going back in there!"
"What about your plans to go into business with Ivan and Alain?"
Yoko cocked her head to one side. Her eyes did not leave the holo as she said, "Yup, that's pretty much official. I've got some ideas that should revolutionize MAAC development. I went over some of them with Ivan before we came back and he thinks that they have a lot of merit. As unpopular as the Grif'cen is, I really think that the future of MAACs is mobility over weaponry. The Had'ras were really 「deteriorated bum-bum」, but when you stop to think about it, they're as mobile as a rock look!" Yoko gestured to the holo. "There, how did R'Tus know to go for the knee joint? He had whatâ¦a few seconds to size up his opponents?"
"They didn't call him the Whiz Kid for nothing."
"No offense honey, but now that I've seen you two, I have to wonder how the heck you guys are related. I mean, you're good, but dagnag-it, he's a natural!"
L'Cor chuckled. "Actually, not too many people know this, but R'Tus and I are actually not related by blood."
Yoko suddenly jerked upright. "What?!"
"My parentsâ¦my real father and my mother that is, always wanted another child as I was an only child at the time. Anyway, they were unable to conceive and eventually adopted a little boy to be my brother. After my father died, my mother eventually remarried and gave birth to Q'Wen."
"You mean you and R'Tus are not brothers after all?"
L'Cor frowned and said, "We are brothers in everything except blood."
"Blood is thicker than water but love binds us all," said Yoko. "Did R'Tus ever know?"
He shook his head. "No. We were going to tell him one day, but then our father died, and then our mother remarried. The timing never seemed right."
A beeping noise interrupted their conversation. Yoko frowned and said, "I thought we agreed to turn off our phones for at least today?"
"I did," said L'Cor as he fished though his pockets until he found the source. "That's odd, I thought I turned this thing off?" He held up R'Tus's journal and it turned on by itself."
R'Tus's face smiled at the couple. "Hello L'Cor."
"What the frak?" exclaimed L'Cor.
"Now, now L'Cor. No need for such language. There is a lady present after all." R'Tus turned to face Yoko and said, "I am pleased to see L'Cor keeping company with such a beautiful woman. May I have your name please?"
"Uh, Yoko. My name is Yoko." Yoko's face mirrored the confusion on L'Cor's.
R'Tus laughed. "You guys should look in the mirror! Surely, after your experiences, you believe in magic now?"
"Butâ¦butâ¦"
"But how is this possible?" asked R'Tus. "Easy! I showed Farad my AV journal and he was somehow able to make a replica of this and then send the replica into the future where it landed on your bunk L'Cor."
"Farad? Butâ¦heâ¦wasn'tâ¦"
"L'Corrrrrr!" sang R'Tus. "Shut up and pay attention. Yes, this is really me. No, I don't really understand the mechanics of magic enough to tell you how this works, and yes Farad: as in Malin's apprentice and wizard to Emperor Morda. That Farad. He's really not that bad a guy, once you get to know him. Of course, he did try to kill Gaya so many times, but let's not dwell upon the past, shall we?"
There was a faint crying sound and R'Tus looked away for a moment. "Oh, sorry, duty calls. Here, you need to see this entry. Maybe it'll bring you up to speed." R'Tus waved a hand and then his image was replaced with a younger looking version of himself.
L'Cor and Yoko watched in astonished silence as the younger R'Tus began to speak.
Start of Entry
This day has been the most incredible day of my life. Before you wonder, yes, Gaya and I were finally able to consummate our love last night, and no, I'm not going to recount those experiences here!
Basically, the purpose of this entry is to document my duel with Emperor Morda. I had gone into the duel this morning, convinced that I was going to die. Well, obviously, I didn't!
See, Emperor Morda had this spell put on him by his wizard Farad. He was immortal. Obviously, a spell of this magnitude requires a lot of power. It's no wonder that Farad looks as if he were ninety orbits old instead of the forty that he is.
Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.
As if to punctuate my feeling of doom, the day was cloudy and dreary. Big thick clouds threatened to drop torrential rain everywhere.
Gaya helped me into my armour. We did not speak but I could see tears in her eyes. When she kissed me one last time before closing my helm over my face, I could taste her salty tears.
She helped me belt on my sword belt and then watched quietly as I slid Callus home into its scabbard.
When I tried a test draw though, I found my mobility to be seriously hampered. We spent the next few minutes arguing about the armour. Gosh, women can be so stubborn. If I was going to die today, I was determined to die on my feet, facing my enemy not lying on the ground like an upside down ter'le. Even though I wouldn't be able to kill the Emperor, I was still going to give it my best shot. For that, I needed mobility. We compromised in the end. I switched out all that metal armour for a basic leather breast plate, forearm braces and a helm with a face guard. Heck, at least I got to kiss her again!
This time, Callus leapt from its scabbard and into my hand as if summoned by magic. I was ready.
The arena was small with no hiding places. This was going to be a simple duel. Emperor Morda was standing in the centre of the arena. I saw that he had outfitted himself in basic leather armour as well. Either he was confident in the spell that protected his life, or he preferred to fight as light as possible.
His face was protected by a mask like mine was. As if on some unspoken signal, we both drew our swords and saluted each other.
He attacked first with a lunge, which I parried. He carried his broadsword as if it was a rapier and I was somewhat surprised at his speed. Oh well, I'm no slouch when it came to primitive weapons!
We battled back and forth in the arena for a while. After the first few strokes, it became obvious that we were actually pretty closely matched. I could see by his posture that he was starting to take the duel seriously. His strokes started to come faster and stronger. I blocked the ones that I could and parried when I saw an opening.
He got in a good stroke though which I barely deflected with the back of my left arm. Thank goodness Gaya convinced me to leave the forearm braces on!
A little bit later, I managed to mirror his stroke and drew a line of blood on his left side. His left arm was just a little too slow to deflect it.
I think the fact that I drew blood shocked him. I heard him say, "Impossible!" Then, he really started to attack in fury.
One of the first things I learned about fighting was to always keep a level head. I sensed my opening well before it happened. Emperor Morda was becoming increasingly frustrated and it showed in his moves. Suddenly, he took his sword in both hands and hammered at me as if he were holding an axe and not a fine instrument of death.
I timed my blow to coincide with his upswing, knocked his blade further up than he had intended, and then ran him through his chest.
His sword fell from his grasp as I pulled Callus from his chest.
"Howâ¦how is this possible? I am the Immortal Emperor. Only my blood can kill me!"
I had no idea what to say to him. I was still shocked that I had won!
"Whoâ¦who are you? Let me see your face!"
I shrugged mentally and removed my helm. In response, Emperor Morda began to laugh. There was a shocked silence from the crowd that was watching. Morda was still laughing when he pulled off his helm.
He had my face!
Blood bubbled out of his mouth but he managed to say, "Yvainâ¦sonâ¦" Then the Immortal Emperor fell face forward and died.
Someone, I think it was Farad, led me out of the arena before it became a complete madhouse. I was still in too much shock. Suddenly, Gaya was there too and the three of us managed to find a quiet corner.
Farad looked at me with wonder in his eyes and then knelt and bowed his head to me. "I pledge my allegiance to thee, Prince of Mordue."
"What? What're you talking about? My name is R'Tus!"
Gaya wrapped her hand around my shoulder and hugged me tight. "Nay, my love. Thou art the son of Yvain and King Groken. Malin informed my father and me many orbits ago."
I pulled away from her embrace and stared at her. "What're you talking about?"
Gaya grabbed my hand and held it tight as she looked into my eyes. "Oh, I have wanted to tell you for so many orbits, my love! Tens of orbits ago, when my grandfather was still a boy in King Groken's court, Yvain seduced King Groken in an attempt to undermine the unity of the Camu kingdom. Her seduction bore unexpected fruit though and thou were born. She never wanted anything to do with thee and allowed servants to raise you. One of these servants was Malin, who became thy mentor and tutor."
My head was spinning and I had the feeling of something being lifted from my mind. Suddenly, it all came back to me. Yes, I had known for a long time that I was adopted. My mother had told me one quiet night. Yet, the memories of the time before I was adopted had always seemed blank. Now, though, those memories came flashing back. I remembered rolling hills and long serious talks with an old man with sad eyes. I remembered laughing in delight at the tricks of light that flashed in this man's hands. Most of all, I remembered a fateful day, full of flashing steel and splashing red. The old man was there and he had said, "Aurron, something bad is happening. I will not allow thee to come to harm. Though born a 「illegitimate child」 of a senile king and a wicked temptress, thou have the right to live your life free of these evil tangles."
Without realizing it, I suddenly found myself sitting on the ground with my head in my hands. My real name was Aurron! "Malin sent me away, didn't he?" I asked of no one in particular.
Gaya knelt down beside me and said gently, "At the time, all he wanted to do was to keep thee safe. He would not tell anyone where he had sent thee. Everyone assumed thou were dead.
Farad knelt down in front of me and bowed his head. "When Yvain came back to Mordue, she had a little boy with her. My spells quickly ascertained that he was of no relation to Emperor Morda. When I informed the Emperor, he was happy and ordered the deception to continue. A few orbits later, he became worried that Yvain would not hold to the secret and ordered her poisoned."
I looked up at Farad. He looked almost as old as Malin, yet I knew that he was younger than King Auril. This was the face of the man who I had fought remotely with for the life of Princes Gaya. I couldn't bring myself to hate him for some reason. "Why would you follow a madman like that?"
Farad sighed deeply and looked extremely sad. "Many orbits ago, my master and I parted ways over a difference in opinion. He believed that the future of this world was in the hands of a tiny insignificant kingdom. I believed that the only way to save this world would be to take an existing empire and mould it into a force that can defeat the alien Saxx. I am sure that you can figure out the rest. The spell that Emperor forced from me as the price of his cooperation drained my life force until I am merely a shadow of what I once was."
I nodded to show my understanding. I don't know why, but I believed him. Farad turned to Gaya and said, "I am deeply sorry for all that I have done Princess. I should have placed my trust in thee long ago."
Princess Gaya shook her head and said, "Farad, if it were not for thee, Camu would not have been forced to become as strong as she is now. We became strong because we had to face strong opponents."
They looked at each other the way old friends who had been reunited after a long absence would and shared a small smile. Given their history though, it's not surprising that they did know each other from long ago. I had a nasty little suspicion in my mind and I had to ask it. "It was you, Farad wasn't it?"
He looked at me in surprise but I forged ahead. "Every time you sent one of your assassins, something warned me. Even when I was deeply asleep, I always knew when an attack as going to come."
Farad didn't say anything but I could see his answer in his eyes. I think that was when I made up my mind to trust him. However, I still had no idea what to do now. "What do I do now?"
Gaya leaned over and kissed me on my lips. Then she asked, "Wilt thou marry me?"
That startled me but I instantly said, "Yes!"
She rewarded me with a smile that out dazzled a mid day sun and said, "Then we shall unite this continent together and our children shall unite the world!"
End of Entry
The journal entry ended and the image of the young R'Tus was replaced by the older one. "Does that answer most if not all of your questions?"
L'Cor belatedly realized that his mouth was open and then shut momentarily before saying, "So you're the Mordue prince that Princess Gaya married?"
R'Tus grinned. "I thought that was obvious. Also, I've been doing some thinking lately. It's my fault really that you had to deal with that so called Black Prince."
"Why?"
"Well, after Gaya and I got married, she banished the puppet prince that everyone had thought was the grandson of Emperor Morda. Poor guy ran off swearing vengeance and he went on and on about how he would return one day and reclaim what was stolen. He honestly thought that he was Yvain's real son."
"That sounds familiar," said Yoko with a wry grin.
L'Cor suddenly found his throat to be dry and his eyes teared up. "That's really you, isn't it R'Tus?"
Instead of quipping, R'Tus said, "Yes big brother. It's me. You were always there for me, and I never got to say how much I appreciated you as a brother."
"I never got to tell you how proud I am of you," said L'Cor thickly.
R'Tus was about to say something else but he was interrupted once more by the sound of crying. "Oopsy! Hang on a sec." His face disappeared from the holo for several seconds. When he came back though, he was holding something in his arms. "Ok, I can't keep this connection up. It really makes Farad tired to hold this link open. I don't know when I'll be able to contact you again, but there's someone you should meet.
L'Cor, you are my big brother, and as such, you always got to do everything before I did. You started dating girls before me, you graduated from school before me, and you joined the military before me. I've never complained, but at least I finally got to do one thing before you." R'Tus held up a squirming baby up to the holo and said, "Allow me to present my son and your nephew: Euther Tendra'cen!"
Tears ran openly down L'Cor's face as he saw the image of his nephew. "You did good little brother! He's beautiful!"
R'Tus nodded in Yoko's direction and said, "You better get cracking if you want to catch up. My brother's not getting any younger you know!"
Yoko laughed and shook her head ruefully. "Maybe we'll start practising later, but I have no intentions of becoming an unwed mother!" She directed at the last to L'Cor who immediately fell to one knee.
"Yoko Ana, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"
"Hmmmâ¦.let me see," said Yoko playfully. She winked at R'Tus and then exclaimed, "Yes!" She jumped into L'Cor's waiting arms and kissed him fiercely.
R'Tus whistled and applauded clumsily and said, "Congrats big bro! Something tells me that you're gonna have your hands full with this one!"
L'Cor came up for air and regarded his brother. "Thanks R'Tus."
R'Tus shook his head. "No L'Cor. I should be the one to say thanks. Thanks for always being there for me. Thanks for being my big brother."
L'Cor wiped away more tears and said, "I love you R'Tus."
"I love you too, you big lug! I won't say good bye. I'll say farewell and please give my love to Q'Wen, ok?"
"I will," promised L'Cor. He was still crying when the journal beeped and turned off. His emotions threatened to burst out of his body so he did the only thing he could think of. He wrapped his arms around the woman he loved and held her tight until the storm of emotions passed, and with it, all of his pent up grief.
The End
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Post by Koalabear on Mar 22, 2019 12:40:19 GMT -5
Well, that's it! Whew, that was a LOT longer than I remember! Maybe I should have just posted multiple chapters at once. Well, I don't know how many were reading that but thanks for reading! Now, as for inspirations, well, there are the obvious ones. Battletech and Mechwarrior come to mind, but the specific games I had in mind were Phantom Crash - an awesome fast paced mech game for the Xbox. Probably the best standalone single player mech game for that console. The MCCVs are based on the mechs in that game. They were small'ish and have 4 weapon mounts, 2 legs, 4 legs, tank treads and hover. The 2 leg also had wheels, so instead of running, you could zip down ruined streets. I loved that game and was sad when I finished it. The boss in that game was a girl named Yoko. Armored Core and Front Mission were what I based the MAACs off. I was really into both games at the time I wrote this. And of course, the Grif'cen MAAC is basically my idea of a Valkyrie from the Macross series! But, the biggest inspiration to the story was this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazinger_U.S.A._VersionBasically, the protagonist gets blasted to an alternate dimension where he is tiny and his Mazinger robot is the size of the humans. I always hated how he never "got the girl" in this story, and over the years, I would always fondly remember it until one day, the idea of my story started taking shape. And, since I'm such a huge fan of Arthurian legends, I had to add elements of those legends into my story as well. So, in the end, I wrote a story about how the protagonist got the girl of his dreams. Anyway, thanks to everyone to stuck it out to the end! I do have a few other stories I've written. One of which is NSFK (not safe for kids), cause believe it or not, I actually got my start by writing erotic fiction! Let me know if there's any interest!
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Post by tolmyking on May 13, 2020 1:53:16 GMT -5
Well, that's it! Whew, that was a LOT longer than I remember! Maybe I should have just posted multiple chapters at once. Well, I don't know how many were reading that but thanks for reading! Now, as for inspirations, well, there are the obvious ones. Battletech and Mechwarrior come to mind, but the specific games I had in mind were Phantom Crash - an awesome fast paced mech game for the Xbox. Probably the best standalone single player mech game for that console. The MCCVs are based on the mechs in that game. They were small'ish and have 4 weapon mounts, 2 legs, 4 legs, tank treads and hover. The 2 leg also had wheels, so instead of running, you could zip down ruined streets. I loved that game and was sad when I finished it. The boss in that game was a girl named Yoko. Armored Core and Front Mission were what I based the MAACs off. I was really into both games at the time I wrote this. And of course, the Grif'cen MAAC is basically my idea of a Valkyrie from the Macross series! But, the biggest inspiration to the story was this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazinger_U.S.A._VersionBasically, the protagonist gets blasted to an alternate dimension where he is tiny and his Mazinger robot is the size of the humans. I always hated how he never "got the girl" in this story, and over the years, I would always fondly remember it until one day, the idea of my story started taking shape. And, since I'm such a huge fan of Arthurian legends, I had to add elements of those legends into my story as well. So, in the end, I wrote a story about how the protagonist got the girl of his dreams. Anyway, thanks to everyone to stuck it out to the end! I do have a few other stories I've written. One of which is NSFK (not safe for kids), cause believe it or not, I actually got my start by writing erotic fiction! Let me know if there's any interest! All right bruh. I was doing research on happy fun ball and bruh. How did some of these words pass through the lagauage filter. Bruh. Bruh. bruh...
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Post by Koalabear on May 13, 2020 7:58:59 GMT -5
All right bruh. I was doing research on happy fun ball and bruh. How did some of these words pass through the lagauage filter. Bruh. Bruh. bruh... Which words? I wrote the story so long ago... I don't think I had any actual swear words, even though the site where I'd originally posted the story had no language filters. I was going for a sci fi/fantasy feel and took inspiration from Battlestar Galactica for swearing.
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Post by ⓣⓡⓘⓒⓚⓨ48 on May 13, 2020 8:57:02 GMT -5
How did I miss your subsequent posts after my bookmark? !!! I will def read the rest later. Cheers for putting yourself out there like that!
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Post by tolmyking on May 13, 2020 10:39:56 GMT -5
All right bruh. I was doing research on happy fun ball and bruh. How did some of these words pass through the lagauage filter. Bruh. Bruh. bruh... Which words? I wrote the story so long ago... I don't think I had any actual swear words, even though the site where I'd originally posted the story had no language filters. I was going for a sci fi/fantasy feel and took inspiration from Battlestar Galactica for swearing. I didn't read most of it but the parts i did read has some peculiar scenes, no?
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Post by tolmyking on May 13, 2020 10:40:39 GMT -5
How did I miss your subsequent posts after my bookmark? !!! I will def read the rest later. Cheers for putting yourself out there like that! BUMP
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Post by Koalabear on May 13, 2020 11:42:47 GMT -5
Which words? I wrote the story so long ago... I don't think I had any actual swear words, even though the site where I'd originally posted the story had no language filters. I was going for a sci fi/fantasy feel and took inspiration from Battlestar Galactica for swearing. I didn't read most of it but the parts i did read has some peculiar scenes, no? It's been a while since I read it all the way through myself. The idea of the story was in my brain since I was a teenager and read that Mazinger comic in the library. When I finally got around to writing it, I had a couple of false starts until I decided to take inspiration from games. It was still a struggle in the end to tie it all up. Honestly, I don't consider it my best story, but it was my only attempt with mecha so it kinda fit here. I posted it back with Pix started releasing lore for the game and we had a member here who was writing his own novel based on the game so I dusted off mine and posted it. I don't have many stories finished. I have one that I started writing but lost inspiration after about 30 chapters. I do better with short stories and have written some fan fiction.
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