November 12th, 2380. T-minus 6 days
"Feeling better?" asked Sara Toshio.
"I'll live," replied Taeon. He sat down in a chair and
looked through the panoramic window that doubled as the lounge's
eastern wall.
The administration tower was the tallest building in Zion
Colony, stationed in the center of the main biodome. The
cylindrical tower acted as a central support pylon for the dome
itself, and the view from the upper most stories was spectacular.
Below, the entire colony was laid out like a miniature model set.
The parks, houses, lakes, farms, and buildings were organized in
symmetric logic through the well-planned community of scientists,
engineers, workers, and countless others from nearly every walk
of life. The colony was more than a secret base, realized Taeon.
It was a world in its own right, self-sufficient for over a
decade. No wonder they didn't want to go back to the ITR. They
had no reason to.
"What are you thinking about?" asked Sara.
Taeon shrugged. "We have the moon. We have the new
technology. What do we do now?"
"Eridani needs to be liberated, Briggs needs to be killed,
and we still have to kick the GSC all the way back to Tau Ceti."
"Good point," replied Taeon.
"Lieutenant Toshio, Sara Toshio," said a young man as he
stepped up to their table. "Your presence is requested in the
Jade Conference Room."
"What's up?" Taeon asked the messenger.
"Uh... A conference, sir," he said.
"Really? For what?"
"I don't know, sir. I..."
"Stop bugging him, Taeon," said Sara. She stood up and
looked at the messenger. "Lead on."
* * *
"Hey, Taeon," said Ryo, as he entered the conference room.
Taeon glanced at his friend. "Take a seat. Looks like
something big is going down. All the important people are here."
"Wow, and that includes us," said Ryo. He looked around the
large, circular room.
The room was designed like an amphitheater, with five rows
of desks, each on a lower level than the one above it. At the
front of the room was a large display screen and a podium for a
speaker. Taeon was right, a lot of important people were seated
at the desks. Among them were Admiral Steele, Captain Armor, Dr.
Chrome, General Avenger, Dr. Gunn, Kyle Suavarre, Leta Zodiac,
and many other ITR officers and high administrators from the
colony.
"I can understand me being here," said Ryo, "but you?"
"Yeah, yeah," said Taeon. "Cut it out. They invited me
here, remember? They must know how cool I am."
"Leta Zodiac is here. But I thought she and Alex were hit
pretty hard by that psi-blast?"
"As you can see, she's up and about," said Taeon. "Alex is
out of his coma, but he's still recovering."
Ryo nodded.
Dr. Gunn stepped up to the podium. "May I have your
attention please."
The dozen conversations around the conference room stopped
as all attention focused on Dr. Gunn.
"We have some important matters to discuss. Admiral
Steele?"
Admiral Steele stood and approached the front of the room.
Dr. Gunn relinquished the podium to her. "Within the last hour,
a fleet of one hundred GSC warships has entered this system and
taken orbit around the main world Arcturus."
The entire room exploded in a fury of questions.
"What!" cried Taeon, his voice adding to the chaotic
multitude
"Calm down, calm down," said the Admiral. "Our fleet has
taken low orbit around this moon. As we are protected under your
electro-optical cloaking system, we were not detected. However,
the main GSC fleet, including the flagship Victorious, is in
orbit around Arcturus. There is a risk that they could recover
technologies from the ruined base. Second, on the grounds that
we were obviously able to find you, it is possible they might be
able to locate this moon even though it is cloaked. The cloaking
system, remarkable as it is, is not perfect."
"A hundred ships to our forty?" asked General Avenger. "I
don't like it, but what choice do we have? We can't let that mad
man win. Not when we have a chance to strike back at him now!"
"What about reinforcements," asked Kyle. "Each of my men are
better than ten GSC pilots, but even at that we still need
secondary support."
Admiral Steele narrowed her eyes and glanced at Kyle.
"Perhaps. But we are going against orders just by being here.
The Secretary General himself ordered us to return to Sol. We
could be considered traitors by disobeying those orders."
"But those orders are insane!" said Ryo. "The GSC isn't
attacking Sol! Their primary fleet is here in Arcturus!"
"Even so, it is wise to protect the capital world," said
Admiral Steele. "The ITR military sees Arcturus as a secondary
Frontier world of little immediate or strategic value."
"Haven't we been in contact with them over the past few
days?" asked Taeon. "Did we tell them we found the moon?"
"Yes. Unfortunately, they want all available ships in the
Sol system."
"What about the Procyon fleet," asked another officer.
"Could they come in and secure this system?"
"Unlikely," said Admiral Steele. "The Procyon fleet is en
route to Sol. As you know, Sirius is under siege and Alpha
Centauri has declared itself independent. GSC forces have
already taken over the Frontier systems of Barnard and Mothair,
and are staging forces in Wolf 359. Sol is practically
surrounded."
"That's impossible," said Ryo. "Where'd they get the forces
to pull that off?"
"It was a simple, yet risky strategy, and Briggs succeeded.
In essence, he pushed us back and threw his forces out in mass
leaving the GSC worlds unprotected. That's nearly three hundred
warships right there, plus the new ones his ship-works are
stamping out. Against our fleet, that may not seem like much.
But Eridani fell, at a terrible price, and Alpha Centauri broke
away with nearly a quarter of our forces. We've lost over half
our fleet in the last two months. Our government, what was left
of it, panicked and ordered all ships to take position in Sol,
expecting a massive final strike from the GSC. That is where we
stand now."
"Strategy my ass," mumbled Ryo. "I say Briggs was lucky."
"Then it's up to us to get rid of the interloping GSC fleet,
right?" asked Captain Armour.
"Yes," said Admiral Steele.
"This moon has a mega-psi-amp," said Taeon. "Can't we use
it to teleport the GSC fleet into the sun or something?"
"If we could do that we would have," said Leta Zodiac. "But
we can't. As we've said before, Alex and I simply do not have
enough power to harness the Reality Horizon's full potential. It
uses so much of our mental energy that teleporting one AU puts us
out for hours, and completely drains the psionic capacitor.
Adding more divers won't help either. It lowers the systems
sensitivity and accuracy."
"Just put my sister, Xandra, in it," said Taeon.
Leta crossed her arms. "Humph. We studied her bio. She
may be more powerful that both Alex and I put together; but,
she's just a kid, and she's not psychologically stable. She
needs some serious mental training and reeducating."
"We must attack now!" interrupted General Avenger. He stood
up and slammed his fist against his desk. "All this talk is
getting us no where! The GSC must pay for all the years of pain
and destruction they have caused! The odds are against us, but
it's only two to one. We still have the advantage! They don't
know we are here. They can't see us. We can catch them by
surprise and crush them in one stroke!"
"Thank you, General," sighed Admiral Steele. "And your plan
may well be our only viable option."
"If only we had more ships," said Kyle. "Then perhaps we
could match them. Dr. Gunn, what are the forces of Zion Colony?"
"Not much," she replied. "We have only a few frigate ships,
some gunships, and three mecha wings. However, we do have one
ace in the hole, which I will unveil very soon."
"Wait a second," said Ryo. "What about the holoprojector
systems? Could we equip some ships with full sensory
holoprojectors and make it look like we have twice, or even three
times, our numbers?"
"What good would that do?" asked General Avenger.
"Holograms can't shoot!"
"No," said Admiral Steele. "But they can draw fire."
"What do you mean?" asked General Avenger.
Admiral Steele smiled. "As Sun-Tzu once said, 'By
discovering the enemy's dispositions and remaining invisible
ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated, while the enemy's
must be divided. We can form a single united body, while the
enemy must split up into fractions. Hence there will be a whole
pitted against separate parts of a whole, which means that we
shall be many to the enemy's few. And if we are able thus to
attack an inferior force with a superior one, our opponents will
be in dire straits.'"
"What the hell are you talking about?" asked the General.
"The writings of some ancient Chinese war philosopher have no
bearing on space warfare!"
"On the contrary, they have every bearing on space warfare,"
said Admiral Steele. "Times and technologies change, yet the
truths of conflict remain the same. Dr. Gunn, how long would it
take to equip our ships with holoprojector systems?"
"Quite some time," said Dr. Gunn. "Approximately one week
to construct and install the devices."
"How many can you install in a day?"
"Five, perhaps six ships," replied Kei.
"Those could project faults sensor images of how many
vessels?"
"Six each, if we use our standard configuration. We could
build more advanced systems but it would take more time."
"Six ships which appear as forty-two," said Admiral Steele.
"We shall place projectors on two cruisers, two frigates, a
destroyer, and a light carrier. General Avenger?"
"And what will we do with these phantom numbers?" asked
General Avenger.
"Draw off a portion of Briggs fleet," replied the Admiral.
"The GSC fleet does not know we are here. My strategy is thus -
These six ships will jump to the forth world, appearing as a
fleet of forty-two ITR warships. Alerted by this, Briggs will no
doubt send a task force to deal with the problem, possibly
thinking we have found something of importance on the forth
world. It will buy us at least a day. During that time, we will
jump to the third world, Arcturus, and attack Briggs' remaining
forces there. Assuming he sends half his forces after the decoy
ships, the fight will be close to an equal matched. Once the
orbital forces are dealt with, the six decoy ships will join us,
and we will regroup and prepare to finish off the remaining
forces, possible with help from the Zion Colony ships." Admiral
Steele smiled and placed the tips of her fingers together.
"Hence the wisdom of Sun-Tzu."
General Avenger frowned, then nodded. "Yes. Yes, I see.
Very well."
"Do we plan to use the Zion Moon in our attack?" asked
Taeon. "I'm sure something like this could turn the tide of any
battle."
"No way," said Leta. "We will be practically defenseless
after the teleport. For one thing, there won't be enough power
left to run the cloaking system. All the GSC fleet would have to
do is drop a couple tac-nukes on our heads and that's it. Or,
they could invade. Our forces, advanced as they are, are quite
modest."
"Indeed," said Kei. "I'm afraid it's not worth the risk.
It would take several hours for us to return to a battle ready
condition. Even so, we will be ready to jump in at any time to
assist. We can act as a heavy carrier at the very least."
"Very well," said Admiral Steele. "We will count on you as
a last ditch alternative."
"But we do have something to offer." Kei looked up at Ryo
sitting near the top of the room. "Ryo, come with me. I have
something for you."
* * *
"Surely you are aware of your genetic alterations," said Kei
as they entered a maglev pod.
"Yeah," said Ryo as the pod started up. "You had me
engineered with hyper-reflexes, enhanced vision, and stronger
muscles and skeletal system. You told me about that a long time
ago when I was a kid."
"Yes, but we didn't tell you why. And we didn't tell you
about the other alteration."
"Other alteration?"
Kei looked out the pod window, watching the scenery of a
vast hydroponics farm go by. "As you know, the ITR forced us
into conducting military research. We discovered a flawless
human/machine interface system, far superior to indirect neural
interfaces. I say indirect because standard neural interfaces
work by passively reading the brain waves that escape through the
skull in the form of low energy psion particles. Our design,
however, called for a pilot who was built for the job. A person
who's brain was structured to fully interface with the control
system. The system required a subject who was genetically
engineered, thus the alterations could only be done to an embryo.
We could ask this of no one else. We took full ethical
responsibility upon ourselves... Our only regret was that you
would have to accept the consequences."
Ryo look away. "What are you saying?"
"We had you genetically altered before birth. Not only were
you given those enhancements you know so well, but you were also
engineered to be an interface pilot with Metal Storm Alpha -- the
military prot‚g‚e of the new technologies."
Ryo's eyes widened. "Metal Storm Alpha! Was that the super-
mecha at the abandoned base?"
"Yes," said Kei. "You were part of the project from the
beginning, but we were still your parents. We had no desire for
you to get mixed up in the terrible mess we had created for
ourselves. The ITR knew only that we had created an interface
test subject, but we never told them where or who he was. We
wanted to keep you as far away from this place as possible. You
were taken care of by my brother, your Uncle Zax, on Venus until
such time as you would be old enough to be trained as a mecha
pilot. We took certain precautions after the revolt so that no
one would trace the project to you."
The maglev came to a stop and the door slid open. "So, you
planned to bring me in when I was old enough to use the system."
Kei stood up and stepped out of the transport pod. "Exactly.
But we always objected to the military usage of our technology."
Ryo followed his mom into the maglev station. "But, the
Metal Storm was lost when the base was flooded."
"We kept the designs," said Kei as they headed down another
hall.
"You mean, you've built another Metal Storm?"
"Yes," said Kei.
"But why? Did you expect me to return?"
"Not really, but there was the hope. It has always been
under debate whether or not to engineer a new pilot. You see,
anyone can pilot the mecha. Both Metal Storms were constructed
with a secondary control system similar to those on standard
mecha. An engineered pilot could use the bio-neural interface
system, thus taking full advantage of the mecha's capabilities.
However, we were reconsidering the ethical responsibilities of
doing that. You see, as a person the pilot would have no freedom
or choice in the matter. I'm sure you understand."
"It just so happens I want to be a mecha pilot," said Ryo.
Dr. Gunn closed her eyes and nodded. "I know. As I said,
there were alterations to your brain."
"You mean I was programmed to want to be a pilot?"
"That may not be the best way to look at it, but yes." She
turned down a corridor.
"This is the mecha bay facilities, right?" ask Ryo.
Kei stooped at a door labeled 'MS Bay'. "Yes," she replied
and pressed the button to open the door.
The door hissed open and the two entered the enormous bay.
There was but one mecha inside, surrounded in scaffoldings and
moorings. It towered four times the height of a standard ITR
Raptor and seemed more massive than even the great Kraken mecha,
the heaviest walking war machine constructed. Until now.
"My God," stammered Ryo. "I had no idea..."
"Ryo Gunn, Metal Storm," said Kei. "Metal Storm, Ryo Gunn.
Actually, Metal Storm Beta. Alpha was lost in the Arcturian
base, as you know."
"It's huge..."
"We built this one from the origonal designs with some
changes and slight improvements. Its primary purpose has been
guardian of the Zion Moon, though we've never been attacked. The
test current pilots simply use the secondary control system.
Since you're here, you'd be the best pilot for the job. I think
this mecha will be a valuable asset in this upcoming battle."
"Right," said Ryo. "Uh, thanks."
"First, a bit about your new mecha. As you can see, it is
about four times bigger than most mecha and that much more
resilient to damage. Its force shields alone can deflect fire
from light ship cannons. The left arm has what looks like a
large buckler on the forearm. That is an energy reflector
shield. The head unit houses an extremely advanced sensor array,
with a full range of ECM and ECCM systems."
"Wow," said Ryo. "What about weapons?"
"Hold on. I haven't told you about the gravitic propulsion
system or the nanotronic repair system or even the phased-electro-
optical cloaking system."
"Geez!" exclaimed Ryo. "What'd this thing cost!"
"Money is of no consequence to us," said Kei. "We are not
bound by outside politics or economies. But it did take a great
deal of resources and time to build. May I continue?"
"By all means!"
"The gravitic propulsion system allows it to accelerate by
pushing off gravity-wells or by creating its own. Not terribly
fast, but it can reach orbit with ease and is completely
inertialess. It allows for a full range of motion, including
hover and reverse, and can operate underwater, in atmosphere, and
in space. The nanotronic repair system reconstructs damaged
components and is controlled by the on-board AI that directs
repairs from the designs stored in the data banks. It can fully
repair itself in a day, even with critical damage."
"Impressive."
"Yes. The cloak is even more so. It creates an energy
field around you that can bend light and sensor readings so that
you seem invisible. A trained eye may still be able to spot the
distortion, and some advanced sensors may be able to cut through.
Of course, by firing you will give away your position until you
maneuver away."
"Even so, it's pretty good."
"As for weapons, it has quite an array. The right arm has a
large blaster cannon mounted inside with the barrel along the
wrist. It can take out most mecha in one hit, but it is capable
of rapid fire for assaulting larger targets like gunships. The
left arm has a similar gun mounted in it beside the energy
reflector shield. This strafer gun is less powerful. It fires
like a Gatling gun and is primarily used to strafe large numbers
of attacking mecha at once. Mounted on your hip is a powerful
beam sword that can cut through ship hulls with ease. You should
find it useful. You see the huge cannon on the back?"
"Yes," said Ryo. "Does it swing down across the shoulder to
fire?"
"Yes. That is the mega-buster cannon. It's used for anti-
ship attacks. That gun has a range of eight hundred fifty
kilometers and fires an eighty centimeter shell. Each shell is
armor piercing, with a long duration fusion-plasma warhead,
enabling it to explode and set off a devastating thermal
reaction. It has an effective blast radius of two hundred fifty
meters so be careful. It has five shells."
"Yeah..." drooled Ryo.
"Your final weapon is a set of five-pack energy missile
launchers mounted on each leg."
"Energy missiles?"
"Yes," said Kei. "Think of them as heavy energy bolts
enveloped in gravity fields. The launcher fires five at a time,
as a standard missile launcher might, but the bolts are made of
energy, not matter. Using TEQSAC technology, we are able to
create transient energy/matter, the energy equivalent of the
missile's potential matter counterpart. This, of course, poses
several disadvantages. The first is that it uses a great deal of
power, but your mecha can handle it. Each launcher takes about
ten seconds to recharge after firing. Second, the range isn't
great, as the gravity field dies off fast. However, the energy
missiles will home in on their targets. They fly near the speed
of light and can't be shot down. The gravity manipulation field
allows them to bend and return to attack a target if they miss."
"That sounds far out," said Ryo. "Are you sure that works?"
"Of course. We built it.
"Humph," said Ryo. "Well, I guess it's possible, seeing how
you've mastered science."
"Hardly," said Kei. "We've barely scratched the surface,
but at least we now know the right questions to ask. Perhaps,
some day, we shall find answers to all those questions which we
have uncovered."
"Yeah, whatever. Say, what's the chance of Briggs being
able to salvage Metal Storm Alpha? He was on the project, so
could he rebuild the systems?"
"He was on the project, but only a the military systems
overseer. He wasn't a scientist or engineer. He simply oversaw
construction of the first Metal Storm."
"And he didn't know about me?"
"Oh yes," said Kei. "He did know about you. He knew all
about you. My greatest fear after the rebellion was that he
would track you down. I had no way to know if you were alive,
dead, or one of his puppets. In time, through clairvoyant
visions and remote viewing, we were able to ascertain that you
were safe and Briggs apparently failed to locate you, if he even
bothered."
"Huh," said Ryo. "You'd think he'd need a capable pilot if
he planned to retake Metal Storm."
"Even using the standard control system, either Metal Storm
is quite powerful."
"Well, we have little to worry about," said Ryo. "After
all, Metal Storm Alpha is buried under sixty meters of sea water
and mud."
"It could be salvaged. And, regrettably, we had the
nanotronic repair system installed. It is possible that, if
repowered, it could regenerate itself."
"What!" exclaimed Ryo. "But I thought it was disassembled!"
"I said it's possible. It has been twelve years. Even if
the repair system doesn't work, he may be able to manually
reconstruct it. That is why we must hurry to stop him."
Ryo took a few steps toward Metal Storm Beta. "Can I try it
out?"
Kei smiled. "Of course. You need to get familiar with it.
Moving around in a machine that big is far different than in a
forty-ton mechasuit."
Ryo smiled. "Say no more. Where's the prep room?"
* * *
When the conference had broken up, Dr. Gunn left the room
with her son. While they were gone, Admiral Steele made "the big
announcement".
Metal Storm Beta.
So, Ryo gets the badass mecha, Taeon thought. As he trudged
out into the hall, he sensed someone approaching from behind.
Either his powers were getting more acute, our the person behind
him had one hell of a psionic aura.
"Taeon," he heard in his mind. "Follow me."
"What!" asked Taeon. "What! Get the hell out of my head
and just verbalize!"
"Calmly," said Leta stepping up beside him. She smiled.
"Speech is such a slow and inconvenient form of communications.
But, I suppose you will discover this for yourself in time."
"I'm sorry, it's just..."
"Your friend gets a nice new toy, I know," said Leta, as she
headed down the hall. "But that is all Metal Storm is. A toy.
I have something for you. You are, after all, a very special
individual."
"Yes, yes. Go on," said Taeon with a half smile.
"As you are no doubt aware, divers are few and far between."
They had come to a maglev station, but the car was not there.
Leta pressed the call button, and they waited at the entrance for
it to return. "Barely one percent of the population has the
potential for effectively using diver powers, and even that
statistic is somewhat exaggerated. Of that percent, half are
latent. Of the half that is active, only one percent are as
powerful as you. Only one in thirty billion people as powerful
as Alex and I are, but that is beside the point. You are one in
a billion. Plus, you're a mecha pilot. We need more of your
kind."
"My kind?"
"You're an ace mecha pilot and a good diver. Dr. Palovich
sent me your bio, and I am impressed. You've made good progress
over the past few months."
"I practice for two hours a day, and I'm becoming fairly
well versed in divological theory."
The car arrived, and the hatch slid open. They entered the
car, and Leta closed the door. She pressed an image on the
control display map, and the car zipped off into the colony.
"Good," she said. "What are your proficiencies?"
"Standard stuff. I get precog and retrocog visions. I know
a bit about telepathy, telekinesis, and dynokinesis. I've
started learning about astral projection, diverspace, and remote
viewing. Oh yeah, I have learned the art of bioenergy control.
Healing, you know. But I'm not very good and can only heal
myself so far."
"Hmmm," said Leta. "No advanced telepathic skills like
teleportation?"
"No," replied Taeon. "But I have been studying the art of
teleportation. It's pretty complex."
"Even so, that's good. The bio Palovich gave me didn't
mention your proficiency in dynokinesis or bioenergies. He said
you may have been practicing on your own. That's why I asked."
"Yeah, teaching oneself is hard. I'm not terribly great in
bioenergy control, but I think I have dynokinesis down pat."
Leta grinned. "Oh? Think so, huh?"
"Sure."
A bright blue flare lit up in Leta's hand and formed into a
shimmering ball of energy. Without a second of hesitation, Leta
flung her arm out and let loose with a blast of destructive
electrical force.
Taeon saw the attack coming and had only seconds to respond.
As he jumped back, he held out his arms and focused his psionic
energies into a powerful electromagnetic field. The blast
dispersed around the field and scattered out in a shower of
sparks and electrical arcs.
"Nice," said Leta. She brushed back her dark hair and
laughed. "Good reflexes. It would have been a shame for you to
have died, but hey, that's natural selection for you."
Taeon sat down on one of the seats and bit his lip. "Don't
do that. You could have killed me."
"Why not? How else am I to get a good feel for your level
of proficiency?"
Taeon looked away and said nothing for several minutes.
"Well," he said at last, "our discussion leads me to believe you
have some sort of diver system for mecha."
"Of course. It's a heavily modified Raptor class mecha
equipped with a powerful psi-amp."
"Cool," said Taeon.
"We call it the Psycho Raptor. It's not nearly as big as
the Metal Storm. It's on the same scale as your run of the mill
mechasuit; but, with the right pilot, it can be as deadly as
Metal Storm Beta."
The maglev came to a stop and the two divers departed. Leta
and Taeon headed down a corridor toward the mecha bays.
"If the Psycho Raptors are so good, what's the big deal with
Metal Storm?" asked Taeon.
"Well, we have only twenty Psycho Raptors and ten pilots who
have a decent level of diver potential most of whom are not much
more powerful than you. When commanded by a more powerful diver,
the Psycho Raptor has greater psychic potential. When I'm in the
seat of a Psycho Raptor, it has great power. Hell, I can blow
away an entire squad with a thought. Or jam the thoughts of a
half dozen pilots. Or teleport a couple of mecha into each
other." She smiled and crossed her arms over her chest. "There
are some really nasty things you can do with diver powers."
"I know," said Taeon. "I've never really used them for
combat before... I thought that would be a misuse of my gifts."
"Are you nuts!" exclaimed Leta. "We're in a war!"
"I'll use them, but... It seems unfair."
"Unfair?" asked Leta. She laughed. "Of course it's unfair!
Why the hell do you think Psycho Raptors are so powerful?"
"You know, if Metal Storm had a psi-amp and a diver pilot,
it would be pretty damn powerful."
"No kidding. You could almost mount that psi-amp from the
Vigilant on MS-Beta. Problem is, Ryo Gunn is not a diver."
"Well, it could have two pilots," said Taeon. "Ryo as
pilot, me as the diver."
Leta rubbed her chin. "Hmmm. That'd be sweet. It would
take us a month to refit it, though."
They stopped, having come to a pressure door labeled 'Mecha
Bay 2'. Leta pressed a control and the door opened to a large
bay. The bay, which opened skyward to the vacuum-cursed, airless
moon, had ten mecha sub-bays each with a sparking white and red
color scheme Raptor-like mecha.
"The Psycho Raptors..." said Taeon.
"Half of them, yes," said Leta. She approached the mecha
slotted in sub-bay three. "This one is yours. PR-3."
"PR-3," said Taeon. "Can I rename it?"
"We'd prefer you don't. That is its designation in our
computer systems."
Taeon took in a deep breath and looked over the towering,
thirteen meter tall, fifty-three ton metal knight. "So, what
does it have besides a psi-amp? Some of those new technologies?"
"Of course," said Leta. "First of all, it's not equipped
with a standard thruster system. Instead, it has gravitic
thrusters that work by creating gravity fields for propulsion.
One of the more remarkable things about the mecha, though, is its
thermal energy pile armor. That armor can absorb some of the
thermal energy from a laser or particle beam attacks and focus
this energy into a massive energy absorber system. The mecha has
a dynamic electro-plasma discharge weapon, which uses power
straight from your reactor, but it can be boosted by absorbing
energy inflicted upon you."
"Uh huh," said Taeon.
"This dynamic electro-plasma weapon can create a burst of
particle fire from those torso guns or generate a set of ten
gravitic energy missiles. At full power, it can dump a blast of
pure electro-plasma energy in a massive gravity encased beam,
which we like to call 'the Fury Blast'."
"Right. I can see we're going to kick some ass now."
"Of course. But, because those system rely on energy from
secondary sources, you also have a graser wave gun mounted on
your left arm and a standard beam sword. The graser wave is
basically a weapon which generates a wide arc of destruction in
the form of a high-impact gravity shock wave."
"Yes... I follow," lied Taeon.
Leta smiled. "You also have a kick-butt force shield, a
standard neural interface system, a full range of sensors and
electronic countermeasures and counter-counter measures... Let's
see, what else? Oh, there's a dynamax overburner to pull your
reactor to three hundred percent for emergency situations, but
only for emergencies. Your engine will be trashed after you use
it. And, of course, there's the psi-amp. Just use you're diver
abilities as normal. You should see a thousand fold increase in
power."
"A... thou...sand..."
Leta shrugged. "Well, maybe more. It depends on your
potential."
"And we have twenty of these things!"
"Yep. Of course, they took ten years to develop. They are
not, I repeat not, to be considered expendable hardware. Rule
number one: if you can't make it back with your Psycho Raptor,
don't bother coming back at all. Rule number two: If you get
captured, or can't make it back, self-destruct. We can't let the
GSC get their hands on this technology, I don't need to tell you
why."
"Well, they may get it anyway."
"That's why we must act fast," replied Leta. "And that's
why we're helping you out in this offensive. If we lose this
battle, we lose any hope for a free and prosperous civilization."
* * *
Ryo climbed into the cockpit housed inside the great mecha's
impenetrable torso. The cockpit was a spherical gyro-pod, which
opened like a clam. This was surrounded by a second protective
shell that opened the same way. The pod was mounted inside the
mecha's sternum between the two chest cargo pods. At the moment
the sternum was opened up, which enabled him to access the pod.
The pod was large and had control consoles for three pilots.
The center control booth had a full virtual control system with a
three-sixty visual panorama screen system. However, the seat had
a peculiarity. Not only was it larger than most, but there were
two small spheres on either side of the headrest. Kei had told
him to sit back in the seat, strap in, and plug his pressure
suit's life-support tubes into the chair as normal. And, most
off all, remain calm.
Remain calm, he thought, strapping himself in. By her
saying that, it made him nervous. Was there something to worry
about? Was the system that untested? Could it fry his brain?
He plugged in the last tube and sat back. The pod and armor
shell closed, as did the torso. Now securely sealed inside the
mecha the array of display screens and controls lit up before him
washing him with green and blue lights. The secondary controls
were active, but how would he activate the bio-neural interface?
Then he felt something behind his head. At first it felt
like someone was running their finger tips across his neck. Then
the sensation spread across the sides of his face to his temples
and down his spine. It was a creepy feeling, but he didn't move.
He remained calm.
The screens and controls before him faded out. Vertigo
swept over him as his sense of self suddenly expanded outward in
all directions. He felt the flexing servos and hydraulic
actuators in his arms and legs; the swirling power of the
gravitic energy turbine within his belly; the energy pumping into
the massive weapons that laced his body. He felt the weight of
his four hundred twenty ton bulk.
"Good God..." he stammered, his voice booming through the
mecha bay. "This is nothing like a neural interface..."
His sight returned unblocked by any sort of console. He
could see as any normal human would. However, his vision was
enhanced with the ability to switch to any spectrum and utilize
every conceivable sensor system. He looked to his left and felt
the actuators in his neck rotating and stretching in sync. Then
he looked down. There was his mother standing proudly at the
base of his massive metal feet.
"They used to say neural interfaces make you one with the
machine," said Kei with a laugh. "But this, the bio-neural
interface... This makes you the machine. Now you see the
difference?"
Ryo held out his hands and looked down at them. He closed
his steel fists and watched as each one ton finger curled up in
his palm. He stretched his hands out and nodded. "I can't
believe it... This is... Amazing!"
"The only problem with the system is that your mecha is
filled with billions of bio-feedback systems, sort of like a
nervous system, which is why you can feel the functions of your
mecha so well. This means that if someone lobs your arm or leg
off it will hurt like hell. If the damage is too intense, it
could scar your brain or cause neural backlash trauma."
"Crap," said Ryo. "Well, I'm not too worried. Not even a
Titan could hurt me. Hell, not even a War God could hurt me."
"War God?" asked Dr. Gunn.
"A new GSC mecha," said Ryo. "Briggs has made a bunch for
the high military officers. But it's nothing to this!"
"You should still worry about ships. Even small gunships
could plug you down with a well-placed missile. Of course,
that's why you have the 80cm ship-buster cannon."
"It only has five rounds."
"That's enough to take out five ships. Speak softer. Your
mecha's external speakers are booming."
Ryo looked up at the ceiling bay doors. "Can I take it out?
I want to see how these gravitic thrusters work."
"Of course," said Dr. Gunn. "But make sure you don't rise
above the cloak shield. With gravitics you can break orbit with
ease, so don't get carried away."
"Great," said Ryo. "Well, you and the tech crews might want
to clear the landing bay. It's a vacuum out there."
Kei nodded. "Don't worry. We have atmospheric pressure
force shields around the bay doors. The electro-gravitic field
will hold in the atmosphere, but allows larger objects to escape.
It will feel like moving through jelly when you pass through the
field, but no air will escape."
The door above parted and slowly began to open. Despite the
ominous vacuum outside, the air within the bay remained
unperturbed.
"I hope there's not a power failure," said Ryo. "That would
really suck."
Dr. Gunn frowned, then glanced around the bay. "Okay, well,
I'll be in the control room," she said and headed across the
mecha bay.
Ryo tensed his back and felt the gravitic propulsion system
energize. He lifted effortlessly off the floor and hovered in
the air, cushioned from the bonds of the Zion Moon's pull by his
own miniature gravity-well. With a thought, he floated upward
and out of the mecha bay.
The external pressure sensors went to zero as he entered the
vacuum of the airless planetoid. Below him was the city of
biodomes, comm-towers, power plants, and automated factories. He
spun around, feeling the power and agility of his metal body. It
was as easy as controlling his own body. No, he thought.
Easier. "Now this is a mecha," he said. "Say your prayers
Briggs. It's pay back time!"
* * *
Taeon spent a relaxing afternoon in one of the colony's many
parks the following day. He sat back in the soft bench, and
closed his eyes, listening to the sound of birds chirping and the
bubbling symphony of the nearby stream.
"Thinking about something?" asked Ryo, as he stepped up to
the bench.
"No," said Taeon. "I'm trying not to think about anything
at all. I find that by thinking I remember things. There are a
lot of things which have recently happened that I really don't
want to remember."
"I know. We win a battle, they win a battle. We win a
battle, they win a battle. It's sort of a see-saw effect."
"I think Briggs has put a hug mass on his end of the see-
saw. They keep on winning and are taking us for one hell of a
ride."
"We've got something even bigger in our favor, and you're
sitting on it."
"This bench?" asked Taeon.
"The Zion Moon," said Ryo ignoring Taeon remark. "And Metal
Storm. Man, you should feel how that baby handles."
"Did you hear about my Psycho Raptor?"
"Huh? No."
"It's a diver mecha. It has a built in psi-amp, among other
things. It's not as big as Metal Storm. It is a Raptor after
all."
"Taeon, Ryo," said JT running up to the pair of pilots.
"JT," said Ryo. "You busy right now?"
"Actually, that is what I came down here to talk to you
about. This upcoming battle my involve some down and dirty
ground pounding work. Some of the mecha are being installed with
powersuits."
"Powersuits?" asked Taeon. "We're not grunt troopers.
We're mecha pilots."
"Well, you've been trained to use powersuits, so you might
as well mount one. Who knows, it could be useful if you crash."
"What are we getting?" ask Ryo.
"That depends. Your Metal Storm can hold two Cyclops
transformable power-cycles with hardsuit. Taeon, the Psycho
Raptor you're assigned to can hold a standard trooper suit. It
can also be modified to hold a Cyclops."
"I'll take the Cyclops," said Taeon. "But I don't plan to
use it."
"Great," said JT. "I've got to get back to the mecha bays.
There're a dozen mecha being modified down there."
As she turned to leave, Ryo grabbed her arm. "JT, wait."
"Ryo?"
"You've been working your ass off the who knows how long.
Take a break. Let's go have dinner over at the Morning Star. I
hear it's a great restaurant and tonight they're having an "All
drinks on the house special" for all ITR pilots."
"I don't know," she replied. "I'd love to, really, but
there's a lot of work to be done."
"This is a colony of scientists and engineers," replied Ryo.
"Someone can cover for you."
"All drinks on the house, huh?" asked Taeon. "That's not
smart. We go to battle tomorrow."
Ryo looked at Taeon. "Hmmm. That could be a problem.
Maybe they have a two-drink limit. Anyway, JT, I'm sure you can
take an hour or two off."
"I've been assigned as your chief tech, and I've got to
study the Metal Storm's advanced systems..."
"That's great," said Ryo with a smile. "But why? You don't
know the first thing about TEQSAC technology."
"True, but I do know everything about you," she replied,
poking her finger against Ryo's chest. "You account for half the
machine's control systems. Remember? Besides, I'm a fast
learner, and they want someone on board who can work along side
you. That's what they want me for."
"You? On board Metal Storm during the battle?"
JT laughed. "Of course, silly. Metal Storm's never been in
battle before and someone has to be there if a problem arises.
I'll be manning the systems console station. Don't worry, I
won't get in your way. I have to make sure nothing screws up.
They want someone who can work in sync with you in the event of
an emergency."
"Well, that's not what I'm worried about," said Ryo with a
sigh. "Take the rest of the evening off. That's an order, my
dear."
JT narrowed her eyes and smiled. "Yes, sir, Lieutenant
Gunn. I'll see you in my room at nineteen hundred sharp."
Ryo watched her turn and head down the path that wound
through the quite park. "I can't believe they're putting her on
Metal Storm," said Ryo.
"Look on the bright side," said Taeon. "You can protect her
all the better that way."
"Yeah, but she'll be out in the front lines. If I go
down..."
"If you go down, and she's on board, maybe it would be
better that way," said Taeon. He closed his eyes. "Perhaps then
no one will have to remember pain. Or regret."
"I'm sorry about what happened to Lynn," said Ryo. "I know
how you feel, but..."
"No, you don't know the first about it," said Taeon. "I've
lost everything! My father, my brother, my house's holdings, my
hopes, my dreams... My future. It's all gone, Ryo. All of it.
All I have left of my family is Sara and Xandra. That's it. And
it's all because of Briggs. He took all I had, and destroyed
everything I hoped to achieve!"
"Same goes for me," said Ryo. "Only I had less to lose."
"Looks to me like you're getting your life together just as
mine is starting to fall apart."
"I wouldn't worry," said Ryo. "As soon as we kick Briggs'
tail across the galaxy, I'm sure you can reclaim Falmore-Glave
for House Toshio."
"Assuming Falmore-Glave hasn't been blown off the map,"
mumbled Taeon.
"Get some rest," said Ryo. "Tomorrow we give those Coalie
scum what they deserve. We'll show them that their arrogant
overconfidence is no match for our everlasting Empire."
"No empire lasts forever," said Taeon. "No empire ever
will. Briggs is right about one thing -- A new empire is rising
from the ashes of the old. Only it's not going to be his empire.
We'll see to that, personally. Am I right?"
"Hell, yeah!" exclaimed Ryo.
* * *
The fleet hung in low orbit, twenty klicks above the lunar
surface. An hour ago, the six decoy ships had activated their
holoprojectors, creating a fleet of phantom vessels. They six
real ships dove out of lunar orbit and reappeared around the
fourth world. Along with them came the thirty-six phantoms.
Even now, recalled Taeon, the GSC fleet at the third world was
scrambling no doubt preparing to send a task force after the
intruding Imperials they so erroneously detected.
"Lieutenant Toshio," came a voice over the comm system.
"Proceed to mecha hangar three."
"Roger," replied Taeon. He mentally guided his Psycho
Raptor around the starboard side of the glorious flagship
Vigilant.
"Lieutenant Gunn," said the voice. "Proceed to large craft
bay two. It has been cleared for your landing."
"Got it," replied Ryo.
Taeon looked to his left. The image that was piped directly
into his visual cortex panned left and he watch as the titanic
Metal Storm glided beneath the Vigilant and into the belly
landing bay. The Vigilant dwarfed the Metal Storm, being over a
hundred times it's size. And yet, the great mecha was probably
capable of sinking the Vigilant with only a few well placed
shots.
Taeon turned his attention back to the landing operation as
he neared the hangar bay. The Psycho Raptor's legs straighten
out and the gravitic thrusters forced the mecha into
deceleration. He touched down on the bay floor and jogged to a
stop, terminating the last of the momentum.
Sara and Xandra had remain at the colony at Taeon's
recommendation. The entire fleet would be in this battle and
being on the front lines would not be the safest place. Better
they stay on the Zion Moon which, for now, would not be in
battle. If all else failed, they would fight, and Taeon knew
Sara would fight to the bitter end. But Xandra? In a worst case
scenario, she would become another sad casualty of war.
"Bay pressurize," notified the bay operator over the
channel. "Lock your mecha down in sub-bay one, Guardian Squadron
section."
What was left of the Guardian Squadron thought Taeon as he
marched his Psycho Raptor the front of the bay. There was his
old Storm Giant and Ryo's Maelstrom. As was Katana's Mindancer
and David's Ironclad L-Geimour. But, in a double-sized sub-bay
stood an enormous Kraken class mecha.
Taeon had never seen a Kraken up close before, though he
knew the specs on it. It was the largest mecha yet developed
aside from the Metal Storm. It was half the size of the MS,
dwarfing all other mecha, and was nicknamed "the Walking
Fortress". It was a two hundred ton walking weapons platform.
It's crab-like body was laced with missiles, cannons, gun ports,
armor, and force shields.
"Must be Allen's new mecha," thought Taeon. "But he's just
a sergeant. He wouldn't be cleared for that. And, a Kraken's
not Vista's style. Of course, she wouldn't be cleared for it
either."
Taeon moved his mecha backward in the sub-bay and waited for
the mooring to lock into place. Afterward, he climbed out of the
Psycho Raptor's cockpit and down the rope ladder to the floor.
"Taeon!" called Allen.
Taeon looked around and spotted both Allen and Vista
standing at the base of the Kraken's left foot.
"I see you got yourself some new kinda mecha," he continued.
"It's a Psycho Raptor," said Taeon. "And, it's really cool.
Did you get a Kraken?"
"Guardian Squadron has been declared a heavy assault unit.
All our mecha are state-of-the-art. Of course, your mecha and
Ryo's super-mecha are a bit beyond state-of-the-art."
"How did you get a Kraken?"
Allen smiled. "How'd you get a Psycho Raptor? How'd Ryo
get a Metal Storm? Look, Vista and I are both piloting this
monster. She's the pilot; I'm the gunner."
"That's right," said Vista. "One person could do both jobs,
but it wouldn't be nearly as effective."
"Attention," said Captain Armour over the Vigilant's
intercom. "All personal to battle stations. All pilots report
to your ready rooms. Standby for diver jump to third world."
"I guess this is it," said Vista.
"Briggs must have fallen for the decoy," said Allen.
Taeon nodded as they headed to the ready room. "That, or
we're going to be in for one hell of a fight."
Written and Directed By
Mark Chase
http://www.meta-earth.com
Copyright 1998. All rights reserved.
Casting By
Mark Chase
Starring
Ryo Gunn - Mathias Russ
Taeon Toshio - Jonathan Fuller
Other Characters - Mark Chase
Allen Mercer
Vista Juno
JT
Admiral Steele
David Pollux
Dr. Kei Gunn
Alex Nair
Leta Zodiac
Sara Toshio
Jason Grivar
Captain Armour
And Everyone Else
Mecha Designs
Metal Storm Beta - Mark Chase
Psycho Raptor - Mark Chase
Raptor Series - Mark Chase
Gallant - Mark Chase
Neo-Moray - Mark Chase
L-Geimour - Mark Chase
Cobra ATM - Mark Chase
Titan - Mark Chase
(all mecha were constructed under
the Mekton Zeta© RPG system, by
R. Talsorian Games, Inc)