November 14th, 2380. T-minus 4 days
Taeon landed on the ground and charged toward his Cyclops
power-cycle, the actuators of his powered hardsuit pumping with
every stride.
"Where the hell are you going?" called Jason from the top of
the Psycho Raptor.
Taeon grabbed the hardsuit helmet and turned to look back at
Jason. "Ryo's in trouble."
"Eh?" asked Jason.
Taeon did nothing to satisfy Jason's bewilderment. He
didn't have time to explain the dream or his sudden sense of
precognitive deja-vous. It was already twilight; and, for all he
knew, the vision had already come to pass.
The Cyclops cycle's dynamo reactor hummed to life and the
drive turbine revved into action. The cycle sped off into the
forest heedlessly tearing over fallen logs and underbrush.
"I can't use the comm," Taeon told himself. "Dammit! I
have to warn him; but, if I use the comm, we'll be detected!"
As Taeon tore through the forest toward the shoreline, he
concentrated hard on his friend, stretching forth his diver
senses and searching desperately for his mental aura. "Ryo!"
Taeon's telepathic voice cried out. "Hear me!"
* * *
Ryo and JT came to the forest edge and transformed their
cycles into the Cyclops powersuit. The mechanized armored suit
formed around them, layering over their protective hardsuits,
creating the two powerful mini-mecha.
On the black, coral sand beach, amongst the scraps and
twisted metal remains of the battle, was the upper section of a
Gallant mecha, head unit intact. "C'mon. Let's grab that head
and get back as quickly as possible."
The giant sun was half sunk over the orange washed sea and
the sky was an apocalyptic red. Ryo knew they had to work fast.
Every second they were out in the open was another second they
risked being detected.
"Yeah," said JT, as they stepped up to the broken war
machine. "The head looks good. Keep a look out while I detach
the servos and cables."
Ryo stepped away and scanned the sky for any unwanted
visitors. His sensors had only a twenty kilometers range, and
the Victorious was within that radius. That meant he was in
their range as well. He kept the sensors on passive mode,
hopping to remain undetected. Using active sensors, his
powersuit would stand out like a sore thumb on their scopes.
A strange sensation floated over him as if Taeon were there
by his side. "Ryo," he heard the distant voice call.
But it wasn't a voice at all. It was like a foreign thought
within his own mind. "Taeon?"
"Danger," floated the urgent warning carrying with it a
terribly weight of fear and anxiety. "Flee."
The presence slipped away, but it left Ryo uneasy. "JT,
let's go."
"Hold on," she called back.
"Now."
"I've just about got it," she replied still working away at
the neck of the half-destroyed Gallant. "I need to unlock the
spinal axis."
Ryo studied the various sensor windows on his VR HUD
display. He spun around to the south as the passive radar
detector screamed their warnings. Three objects thundered toward
them from the sky, training an array of sensors directly on their
suits.
"Oh, crap!" yelled Ryo. "They've found us! JT, get that
head and let's..."
The black sand exploded as hundreds of bullets tore across
the beach toward them. Fragments of rock and broken metal
peppered against Ryo's armor suit. "JT! Run!"
"Hold them off."
"What?" Ryo screamed back.
"We need this head, dammit!"
Ryo clenched his jaw and spun around. Two of the three
attacking units had drawn close enough to recognize visually.
They were Gruntmen Heavy Troopers, the standard GSC heavy
battlesuit. On a one to one basis, they matched the Cyclops
suits, except Cyclops could transform into cycles, and Gruntmen
were nothing more than heavy powered armors.
Ryo launched all twelve missiles from the shoulder packs,
six at each of the closing Gruntmen. All six hit the first
Gruntman. The explosions peppered his armored body and knocked
him to the ground. The second dodged half, but the other three
slammed home destroying his 30mm rifle and blasting away chunks
of armor.
The second Gruntman landed next to his fallen comrade, but
the third stayed airborne keeping its distance. The pilot could
be the unit commander and possibly saw the battle as being
unworthy of his attention. "I'll show that arrogant fool," said
Ryo turning up the volume of his external speaker, hoping the
commander would hear his comment.
The first Gruntman stood up and sprayed his 30mm rifle at
Ryo, but missed. The second moved away and headed toward JT.
"JT, I'm ordering you to pull back!" yelled Ryo as he
leveled his pulse particle rifle and blasted a few pot shots at
the first Gruntman. "Did you hear me?"
"Understood," replied JT.
Ryo launched into the air and rocketed backward, hoping to
lay cover fire for her. Instead, he could only watch as the
second Gruntman launched a flight of six missies straight at her
from his right leg missile pack.
"JT!" screamed Ryo landing back on the sandy beach.
The missiles blasted into her Cyclops powersuit, covering
her in fiery explosions. The suit collapsed to the ground as
smoke poured out of it.
"Ahh!" she screamed. Her suit's primary systems had been
knocked off-line by the impacts, and she now lay helpless at the
Gruntman's feet.
The first Gruntman lowered his large shoulder mounted cannon
and fired it at Ryo. He casually dodged the thundering round
that exploded some distance away creating a massive crater. He
gave no heed to that attacker, but instead concerned himself
solely on the one who dared attack his girlfriend.
"Die, you scum," said Ryo aiming his gun toward the
Gruntman.
The second Gruntman also readied his heavy cannon and aimed
it down at JT. Ryo raised his aim, targeting the foe's head, and
triggered the particle rifle. The heavily armored helmet
vaporized, taking with it the head of the trooper inside.
"My suit's immobilized!" yelled JT.
"Eject the Cyclops armor and run!" replied Ryo spinning
around to hold off the other two Gruntmen. "Just get the hell
out of here!"
JT's shutdown Cyclops suit blasted apart, like an exploding
suit of medieval armor. She climbed out of its remains, still
somewhat protected in her light hardsuit.
Ryo laid out a stream of particle fire toward the first
Gruntman; and, to his surprise, the Gruntman fell back. As Ryo
prepared for a killing strike, he suddenly noticed the third
Gruntman rocketing overhead. It landed all too close to JT's
position.
"No you don't!" Ryo yelled at the new attacker. "Get away
from her!"
The new Gruntman turned toward him and seemed to consider
this. Ryo fired, but the enemy spun way, piloting the suit as
skillful as an Olympic acrobat.
As the Gruntman touched down with amazing grace, it leveled
the 30mm rifle and unleashed an earsplitting burst toward JT even
as she fled to the forest.
Ryo watched in terror as the bullets ripped into her
hardsuit. Each armor-piecing projectile carried enough force to
rip through the hardsuit's light armor and into the soft human
tissue it protected. The anti-armor bullets rained across her
body punching through her back, left arm and leg. A forth bullet
ripped into her back, shattering the armor and spraying a shower
of blood. Her blood drenched suit crashing against the rocks as
she fell to the ground.
"No!" screamed Ryo, as he charged toward the Gruntman. "Die
you bastard!"
"Bastard?" boomed the reply from the Gruntman. The voice
was not a man's.
Ryo recognized the voice, but that fact did not register
immediately. He was too busy laying down a spray of particle
fire.
The Gruntman dodged to the side, taking only a few minor
hits that scorched the suit's paint. The pilot laughed
mockingly. "To think that we found you!" continued the voice,
female, but destroyed by some mechanical apparatus. "Where have
you hidden Metal Storm Beta!"
"Kay..." hissed Ryo. "Kay Sabre... You're dead!"
"Briggs's saved me and gave me a new body!" she laughed.
"No," replied Ryo. "I said you're dead!"
He punctuated his reply with a burst of particle fire. The
energy rained across Kay's Gruntman but only melted away a few
layers of armor.
At that moment, another Cyclops cycle tore out of the forest
and skidded to a stop thirty meters away spraying a wave of black
sand in it's tracks.
"Ryo!" screamed Taeon through his open helmet.
"Taeon..." growled Kay's voice. "Toshio..."
"What the hell?" yelled Taeon, slamming his helmet shut. He
hit the transformation button on his cycle's console.
Kay blasted into the air. "Finish this one!" she ordered
the first Gruntman. "I have a score to settle with the other!"
Ryo prepared to open up on Kay's suit, but the first
Gruntman fired a stream of 30mm bullets forcing him to break aim
to avoid the attack.
"Get lost!" yelled Ryo firing back at the Gruntman.
The particle pulses stabbed into the Gruntman, but he
returned fire, strafing his gun across Ryo's position. Ryo
evaded, but was extremely agitated. He didn't have time to deal
with this second rate trooper.
"Kay?" stammered Taeon, as his suit finished transforming.
"Impossible!"
The Gruntman before him leveled its 30mm gun and fired, but
Taeon ducked to the side. He caught sight of JT lying face down
in the sand, blood running from the holes in her busted hardsuit.
"No..." he said. "She got JT..."
Taeon swung his particle rifle toward the Kay and fired a
burst at her head. Only a few particle pulses hit, but a few was
all it took. Kay staggered back as the faceplate was blasted
away.
As the last of the helmet fell away, Taeon saw that the
pilot's head remained. Although scared and damaged by the
attack, it was clearly the head of Kay Sabre, but the gash in her
right cheek glittered not only with red blood but with the sliver
gleam of the metal endoskeleton beneath.
"My God!" exclaimed Taeon.
"You fool! You did this to me! You burned my human body...
but my brain remained..." she laughed maniacally. "My brain...
In this metal body... It is all that I need! Now you will pay
for all my months of pain!"
Kay swung down the large shoulder mounted armor-buster
cannon and prepared to fire. Taeon stretched out his diver
powers in an attempt to crush the frail human body beneath the
thick armored shell of the Gruntman battlesuit.
Instead, his psychic hand touched only cold metal, sheathed
under a layer of living flesh. Taeon grimaced, realizing that
the dark fate of his terrible dream was playing itself out even
now. The gleaming metal of Kay's artificial face...
She fired, the cannon booming as it unleashed the
destructive shell. The round blasted into Taeon's chest,
knocking him back and shattering half the Cyclops's torso,
ruining what would have been the front end of the cycle.
"Kill her!" screamed Ryo. He turned to the henchman and
opened fire, tracing the particle impacts up the Gruntman's body
to his head.
The smoldering battlesuit toppled headless to the ground,
and Ryo spun to engage Kay.
"Dammit!" screamed Kay. She launched into the air on her
Gruntman's powerful thrusters. "Not today boys! It's been a
real blast!"
"Get back here chrome-dome!" screamed Taeon. He sprayed his
particle rifle through the sky trying to hit the departing
adversary. "I've seen toasters with more guts than you!"
"Coward!" yelled Ryo. "You think we're too much for you?"
Kay didn't reply. Her battlesuit was out of range and
rocketing toward the Victorious.
"Let's go," said Taeon. "Before they send more troopers."
Ryo ran over to JT's body and knelt down. "Wait...
Ultrasound's detecting a pulse... She's still alive!"
"What?" asked Taeon. "Let's get her back to camp!"
Ryo was terrified to move her broken body, but he had no
choice. He gently reached down and slipped his heavy metal hands
under her armor-clad form and lifted her off the ground.
"She was sacrificing herself for our plans," said Ryo. "Get
that Gallant's head and come on. I won't let this all have be in
vain!"
Taeon acknowledged and picked up the head unit which was
nearly as large as his Cyclops suit. He would have to run though
the forest in humanoid mode to carry it.
The two pilots ran through the forest with their precious
payload, hoping the thicket of trees and underbrush would throw
off any tracking sensors.
* * *
"Will she be okay?" asked Ryo.
Vista made sure the bandages around JT's abdomen were tight,
then looked up at Ryo. "I don't really know. She's suffering
from severe blood loss. I've injected her with two pints of
artificial hemoglobin, but there may be internal bleeding
somewhere. She took a 30mm round to the back. It shattered her
backbone and severed her spinal column. The blast mushroomed
though her abdomen and did some pretty nasty stuff to her guts.
She'll need spinal regeneration and some replacement organs if we
ever get back to a high-tech medical facility. Her left leg and
arm are also pretty mangled. The bullets which hit went clean
through, but shattered the bones."
"Oh God," mumbled Ryo. "We've got to get her back to the
Vigilant!"
"Or any ship," replied Vista. "Her biostats aren't very
stable. She could slip away at any moment. I'm sorry, but I've
done all I can."
Vista stepped away and Ryo knelt down next to JT. He pulled
a blanket over her comatose body and stroked her face. "Pull
through. You have to pull through..."
"Ryo," said Taeon, from behind. "It's late. There's
nothing more that can be done. You have to get some rest.
Tomorrow's a big day."
Ryo looked around the dark campsite, then into the star
filled sky above. Arcs of energy beams lanced across the sky as
the war raged on far above. A brilliant flare lit the sky, like
a meteor striking the atmosphere, as a ship exploded and died.
"I thought you were killed in my dream," said Taeon.
"What?" asked Ryo.
"In my dream, Kay shot you through the heart."
"And she did," replied Ryo. He looked down at JT. "You
said yourself that sometimes dreams must be interpreted, even the
most vivid ones. Kay did worse that kill me... She shattered
me."
Taeon nodded. "I'm sorry... I tried to warn you."
"I know," said Ryo. "It's not your fault. I think I
understand what the future means now. You can't change it, no
matter how hard you try, the future is already written."
"Except..."
"Except what?"
Taeon looked to the orbital battle and watched as the
terrible lights danced through the heavens above. "The future is
a void. We draw near the time which no diver has foreseen. It
is like a great blanket has been pulled over all of future
history. Perhaps it is a fold in space-time, perhaps it is the
end of time. That which cannot be seen has an infinity of
possibilities."
Ryo stood up and rubbed his eyes. "I don't pretend to
understand diver stuff; but, if there is no future, how can you
foresee it?"
"We can see up until November 18th. After that, there's
nothing. Absolutely nothing. It has been that way for as long
as divers have looked to the future. That day draws near; and,
when it is over, perhaps we will know its cause. Unless that's
the day the universe ends."
"Forgive me for saying so, but I don't think the universe
will be ending anytime soon."
Taeon smiled. "I know. It kind of makes you wonder about
the true nature of reality, doesn't it?"
Ryo shook his head. "I have other things to worry about.
We'd better get some rest like you said, but I'm going to stay at
JT's side..."
Taeon nodded. "All right. I'll see you in the morning."
* * *
"The booster packs are secure," said Jason. "Your mecha is
now a brick with a massive pair of fusion rockets."
Taeon nodded and walked down the riverbank. Ryo was asleep
at JT's side. He had stayed awake most of the night watching
over her, but fell asleep from exhaustion sometime during the
early morning hours. JT was looking a bit better. The healing
drugs must have been doing some good. No one had tried to wake
Ryo, deciding it was better to let him sleep. But, it was almost
lunchtime.
"Ryo," Taeon sent into his friend's mind. "Awaken."
Ryo rolled over. "Wha..."
"We must make plans," spoke Taeon.
"JT..."
"She is getting better, but is still comatose."
Ryo sudden sat up, now wide-awake. "I fell asleep!"
"Yeah," replied Taeon. "You needed to. If you hadn't, you
wouldn't be in fighting shape for today. It's really important
that you be in shape to fight, what with the war and all."
"What's the progress like?"
"Well, we've been working on the Gallant all morning. It
needs about four more hours of work to get everything working.
Oh, Allen's making pretty good progress on that ammo for the
Metal Storm."
Ryo nodded. "Okay, let me think. We have two mecha, not
including the Gallant, which can make it to orbit now. Your
mecha can hold one pilot. The Metal Storm can hold three..."
"What about the cargo pods? Maybe we could modify them for
passengers," suggested Taeon.
"No, they're not pressurized," replied Ryo. "Anyway, that
totals to four seats. However, there's ten of us."
"Maybe we can salvage Jason's gunship."
Ryo suddenly remembered something. "Wait! Why salvage
anything at all? Remember that smuggler base? They had a little
blockade-runner. Unless the GSC has bothered to invade that
base, which I doubt they have since we practically burned it to
the ground in the skirmish, it should still be there."
Taeon nodded. "It's worth a shot. But it's on the other
side of the continent."
"Just eighteen hundred kilometers," said Ryo. "If I take
the Metal Storm, there is a good chance I can get there
undetected. I could take Jason with me, and he could fly the
shuttle back here and pick up everyone else before we burn to
orbit."
"Won't the shuttle be detected?"
Ryo crossed his arms. "Just throw the wrench in all my
plans why don't you. Look, it's a smuggler freighter, a light
blockade-runner, right? I'll bet it has a sensor jammer more
state-of-the-art than what those Cobra mecha pack. If we fly low
enough, radar won't pick it up, and the jammers will throw off
most other sensors. At worst it might look like a big bird or
something."
"I don't know."
"Can you think of anything better?"
"Not really."
Ryo stretched his arms and rubbed his left eye. "Well,
let's get lunch, then Jason and I will head out to get the
runner."
* * *
The air trembled as the fifty meter tall wavering optical
distortion lifted off the ground and blasted eastward skimming
across the tree tops.
"He'd better make it," said Allen dusting off his hands. "I
don't want to think I slapped up and chunked those shells in for
nothing."
"If he doesn't make it," said Taeon, "you'll be stuck on
this rock."
"Not true," replied Allen. "I'm going to infiltrate the
Victorious with you."
"What makes you think I'm the one who's going to
infiltrate?"
"Who else is there? Vista still has a broken leg, Ryo and
Jason went off the get the shuttle, and those other guys are just
gunship crewmen."
"Hey!" objected one of the crewmen.
Taeon walked back into the forest and donned his hardsuit
helmet, clicking on the external mic. "Well, even if there was
someone else capable of doing it, I'd volunteer first. After
all, I'm the only diver in the group."
"What's that got to do with it?"
Taeon hopped on the back of his Cyclops cycle. "Everything.
I have ESP, I can read minds, use TK, remote viewing, astral
projection, dynakinesis..."
"Okay, okay!" interrupted Allen.
"I've even started to work on teleportation. A pretty
difficult technique, I might add."
"Wow."
"But I don't quite get it," added Taeon. "Very difficult
indeed. Hop on, I'll give you a lift to the Gallant."
Allen climbed on the back of the cycle and they sped off
through the forest. The rebuilt Gallant was only a few
kilometers away, but in the thick forest the going was slower
than desirable. After a few minutes, they arrived and dismounted
from the Cyclops.
"Allen," said Vista as she approached the two pilots. "What
are you doing here?"
"I'm going with Taeon to infiltrate the Victorious. He
might need some heavy fire support."
"Right," replied Vista. "And just how will you explain why
there are two people aboard a Gallant?"
"I can say he's a gunship gunner," said Taeon. "When I
crashed, he found me and together we repaired my Gallant. Then
we took off and headed for the nearest GSC ship, the Victorious."
Vista nodded. "Okay. Sounds good to me. Let's hope the
Coalies buy it."
"They should, so long as I have the codes."
"Are you using the pilot's name?"
"Initially, I'll use the name of this Gallant's pilot," said
Taeon. "But any visual recognition will put a damper on that
idea."
"His name was Jackson Schmidt," informed Vista. "Allen,
what's your pseudonym?"
"Pseudo what?" asked Allen.
"Fake name!"
Allen thought.
It took too long, so Taeon interrupted. "John Blake, okay.
How's that?"
"Hmmm," mumbled Allen thoughtlessly. "Let's just get on
board that ship and start blowing stuff up."
"Right," said Taeon. "Our first priority is to destroy
Metal Storm Alpha. If we can, I guess we could try to damage the
ship itself. If we could get to the reactor, we might be able to
blow up the antimatter storage pods."
"That would kill us, too," commented Allen.
"Do you know what our chances of living at this point are
anyway?"
"No," replied Allen.
"Slim. Very slim."
"Well, good luck, Allen," said Vista. "And you too, Taeon.
The Gallant's in as good of shape as it's going to get. Head on
out you two. I'll take your Cyclops back to camp. It won't do
you much good to be wearing an ITR powered armor when you board
the Victorious."
"Oh, yeah," said Taeon. He started to remove the
articulated plate armor. "Also, when the others head off in the
shuttle, I want you to pilot my Psycho Raptor to orbit and get it
to the Vigilant or Zion Base. We certainly can't leave it
behind."
"Understood."
"We also need GSC uniforms," said Taeon.
"The pilot had his GSC pressure suit. It's torn and
bloodied, but we cleaned it and patched it up as crudely as
possible to make it look like a quick job. You can wear that,
Taeon. Also, there was a standard work uniform in the storage
compartment. I think it's big enough to fit you, Allen."
Taeon tossed his helmet to Vista. "Tell Ryo and JT good-bye
for me."
Vista caught the helmet. "Tell them yourself when you get
back. Oh, one other thing. If you see Briggs, pump a round into
his head for me, would you."
Taeon turned around and headed for the Gallant. "I'll pump
a round for us all. Every last one of us."
* * *
The Gallant lifted out of the forest on a plume of white
thruster energy, exploding the trees beneath. The leg boosters
kicked in and the mechasuit rocketed off toward the Victorious.
"Gallant's sure are slow," said Allen, who was stuffed in
behind the pilot's chair.
"Good thing for you," said Taeon. "The G-forces will be
nil."
"This is an old model Gallant," he stated.
"That's why it didn't blow up when it hit ground," replied
Taeon. "The old GCS built stuff to last. Briggs new regime
stamps out tons of crap every second. Quantity over quality."
"We're getting close."
Taeon looked at the Victorious looming in the display screen
before him. "I can see that." He pressed his finger on the comm
button, calling up the GSC hailing channel. "Come in Victorious,
this is Gallant unit KY-87."
"Transmit IFF and clearance codes, KY-87," buzzed a reply.
Taeon punched the data into the comm board and transmitted
the numbers. "Transmitted."
"Received," replied the operator. "You were logged as
destroyed, KY-87. Good to hear you made it. Proceed to landing
bay three."
"Understood," said Taeon. He switched off the comm and
turned to Allen. "Way to easy," he said. "They're security is
crap."
"Almost as bad as the Vigiliant's," mumbled Allen.
"Tell me about it," said Taeon as he guided the Gallant
around the port side of the three kilometer long ship.
The mecha glided over the massive weapon wing, housing
arrays of missile banks, and skimmed across the side of the enemy
flagship until they came to the landing bay labeled '3'. Taeon
guided the Gallant in and brought it down inside the bay.
"Gallant KY-87," cracked a voice in Taeon's headset.
"Proceed to scaffold 7."
"Understood," replied Taeon. He grabbed the leg control
stick and marched his sluggish mecha across the bay to the large
scaffolding.
After backing into the scaffold, and waiting for the locks
and moorings to attached, he opened the cockpit and tossed down
the rope ladder.
"C'mon," he said to Allen. "Let's hope no one on board
knows who we really are."
"Or who we really aren't."
"That too," said Taeon climbing down the ladder.
A number of techs were approaching as Taeon touched down on
the bay floor. "Sergeant Jackson Schmidt," said Taeon.
One of the techs nodded, and looked at a small data pad.
"You're from the Tomashi," he said. "I'm sorry to inform you,
but your ship has been destroyed."
"ITR scum," swore Taeon. "How long until you can get my
Gallant fixed up? I want to get back out there and pay them
back!"
"I'm sure you do, but rest assured our side is winning the
battle. Our loses are high, but the ITR's are higher."
Allen climbed down the ladder and tried to look
inconspicuous.
"Who's this?" asked the tech.
"John Blake," said Taeon. "He was gunner on a gunship that
went down. I found him and he assisted me with repairs."
"Right," said the tech. He pushed a button on his pad.
"Which gunship?"
Allen sudden staggered to the left, but caught himself on
the Gallant's leg. "Oh..." he groaned.
Taeon turned around and tried to support Allen with his left
arm. "I'm sorry. I need to get him to the med-bay. He's got a
concussion, but was handling it okay for a while. Must have been
all the drugs. As for his ship, he couldn't recall it when I
asked him. Short-term memory amnesia from the blow he took when
they crashed."
"Right," said the tech. He pressed another button on the
pad. "All right, go on."
Taeon nodded and help Allen out of the mecha bay. "Quick
thinking," he said.
"Huh?" asked Allen.
"That trick. Nice plan."
"I just suddenly felt dizzy," explained Allen. "But I'm
okay now. Must have been something I ate."
Taeon blinked. "Right... At any rate, we need to find MS-
Alpha first."
"This is a big ship."
Taeon nodded his head. They walked down the corridor not
knowing where to start looking. An announcement came over the
intercom, telling all hands to report to their designated duty
stations, as the ship was preparing to lift off.
"The Victorious is taking off?" asked Allen.
"That's what the intercom said," replied Taeon, as the
announcement ended. "Looks like we have less time that I
thought. If we can dump the MS-Alpha into the upper atmosphere
as we head to orbit, it might burn up."
"Cool," said Allen. He looked down another corridor, which
looked like all the other corridors they had been winding
thought. "But we need to find it first."
"Right," said Taeon. He approached a young officer who was
casually walking down the corridor.
"Ah, Lieutenant Tabb," said Taeon, reading the man's name
tag. "Might you direct us to the holding facility for that new
super-mecha?"
"Well, the Metal Storm Alpha's in large craft bay one, of
course."
"Thank you," said Taeon, motioning toward Allen. "Come
Sergeant Blake. Let us report to our duty station."
The Lieutenant look doubtful at the two pilots as they
headed for an elevator lift. He narrowed his eyes and reached
for the communicator on his belt. "Captain," he whispered into
the communicator. "We have a problem."
* * *
The Metal Storm Beta tore across the barren dessert,
crossing countless kilometers of scorched waste every second.
"Looks like we got away clean," said Jason.
Ryo signed. "Of course. Getting back in will be the
trick."
"How much longer?"
Ryo opened a window in his visual perception, activating the
camera inside the Metal Storm's cockpit. In the viewing window,
he saw his body sitting calmly in the control seat and Jason
resting his head on the electronics control board fidgeting with
a piece of string. "ETA to smuggler base, ten minutes. And get
your face off the ECM controls."
Jason jerked his head up and looked at the camera. "Don't
you have better things to watch for?"
"Not if you accidentally shut off my electro-optical cloak."
Jason yawned and stretched his arms. "I'm just tired."
A torrential maelstrom of wind swept past the Metal Storm,
tossing it through the air like a leaf in a hurricane.
"Ghaad!" screamed Jason grabbing on to his seat for dear
life.
As the world spun around him, Ryo watched the ground below
shatter like a China plate on a concrete floor. A new mountain
range suddenly appeared on the horizon as the continental plate
shifted a devastating ten meters.
"Not good!" yelled Ryo.
He switched off the interior view window and looked around
the sky. As he looked behind him to the west, he saw the Zion
Moon hanging in the turbulent sky.
"Holy...!"
"What?" asked Jason.
Ryo took in a deep breath and blinked his eyes, an act that
focused his sensors in on the impossible object. The moon? The
Zion Moon?
Ryo cleared his throat and made the announcement, trying to
remain as stoic as possible, all trace of emotion drained from
his voice. "After an absence of twelve years, the Zion Moon has
reappeared in orbit. Hold on to something. I have a feeling
things are about to get interesting."
"What?" asked Jason.
Ryo activated the view screens inside the cockpit so Jason
could see for himself.
"Whow!" was all he said.
"Hang on."
"What?"
"Tidal forces," replied Ryo.
"Oh... My..."
Clouds from hundreds of kilometers away thundered through
the darkening sky toward the giant, westward moon. Lightning
arced across the black sky as shock waves pulsated from all
directions.
Ryo struggled to retain control of the Metal Storm trying to
keep from slamming into the still trembling ground. "Something's
terribly wrong!"
"No kidding!" replied Jason.
"That moon's three times closer than it should be. Are they
crazy? They could shatter every tectonic plate on this
hemisphere doing something like that... Geez! I can't imagine
what the tidal waves will be like!"
"Oh God!" screamed Jason. "We have to warn the others!"
"Something tells me they know," replied Ryo, finally getting
his mecha under control. He pumped the throttle to max and
returned to his course toward the smuggler base. "Let's just
hope the shuttle is intact."
"Maybe the Victorious got drilled into the ocean."
"Maybe," said Ryo. "But Taeon and Allen are on board.
Anyway, if anything happened the Victorious, it would have gotten
ripped out of the ocean, not drilled into it."
"How long do you think until our buddies on shore get hit
with a tidal wave?"
"Assuming the entire continent hasn't shifted to force them
underwater, I'd guess two hours until it hits. And when it does,
it will probably destroy everything on the coast up to a hundred
klicks inland."
"Talk about an environmental calamity!"
"Well, I haven't even started talking about the volcanoes,
tornadoes, hurricanes, shifting weather patterns..."
"Okay! Okay!" objected Jason. "I'm freaked enough as it
is! Let's get that shuttle and rescue our friends before it's
too late!"
* * *
The elevator doors slide open. Taeon and Allen stepped out
and walked down the corridor toward the midship large craft bay.
"Okay, let's get to business..." started Allen.
Suddenly, the ship lurched hard to the right. Taeon and
Allen, along with everyone else in the hall, suddenly fell onto
the starboard wall. The ship stabilized, throwing everyone back
on the floor.
"What the hell!" screamed Taeon as he skidded across the
floor to the port.
"Ahhhh!" yelled Allen.
Numerous cries and exclamations resonated down the hall as
the ship's crewmen were tossed about as well.
"Now's our chance!" said Allen.
"What?" yelled Taeon.
"Attention!" blared the intercom. "All hands to battle
stations! The Zion Moon has appeared in orbit. Lunar forces
have been detected and are launching to engage our fleet."
"What's that noise?" asked Allen after the intercom message
finished.
Taeon listened to the creaking and groaning which seemed to
resonated from all directions. "It sounds like the hull is
buckling. The gravitational shock wave from the moon's
appearance might rip this ship in half. This is a big ship,
after all. Tidal forces have an equally big effect on it."
"Hey, maybe it would be good if this ship got ripped in
half."
"Except that we're on board," replied Taeon. "Anyway, this
ship's probably too tough. The hull might buckled a little
amidships, but that's all. Anyway, I..." Taeon suddenly stop mid-
sentence.
"What?" asked Allen.
Taeon touched the side of his head and closed his eyes. "I
felt someone probing my mind..."
"Don't tell me... That's not good, right?"
"No," said Taeon. "Not good at all. Whoever it was, was
close by. There's a diver on this ship, and he's sensed me."
"We're screwed," said Allen. "But, if we've been detected,
why's there no alarm?"
"The crew's probably panicked enough," said Taeon as he
quicken his pace down the hall. "That diver might try to take us
on his own. Save the crew the trouble."
"I'd guess there'd be more than one diver on board," said
Allen. "This is the flagship of the GSC."
Taeon grimaced. "Don't remind me. C'mon. Our time just
ran out."
"Correct," came a voice from behind them.
Taeon and Allen spun around, both reaching for the side arms
they didn't have.
"Dammit!" screamed Taeon as his hand grabbed air.
Down the corridor were four guards led by a tall female who
was diffidently not in GSC uniform. Her leather jacket, black
pants, and boots made her look like some kind of a retro-rock
star. "Kill them," she ordered. "And save me the trouble."
"Who the hell..." stammered Taeon, as he stood a step back.
"Meridian," said the woman, smiling. "X Meridian. We
haven't met, but I know all about you, Taeon Toshio. I have been
searching astral space for you, hoping to trace your life line
down and locate Metal Storm Beta. It's amusing that I should
find you here."
Taeon was running long before she had finished talking, and
Allen soon after. "Run, run, run!" screamed Taeon.
"Can't you do something?" yelled Allen.
"Are you kidding! She's got a psychic aura the size of
Jupiter!"
"Hmmm. That's bad."
Laser pulses lanced around them as they neared the end of
the hall. The door slide open, and the two of them ran through
finding themselves in a small anteroom. The doors to the large
craft bay were directly in front, but two guards were stationed
there. The control room door was to the left, and probably
overlooked the landing bay itself. Taeon ran for the control
room, and Allen followed after.
One guard charged into the anteroom and yelled at the other
two guards. "Get them!"
The two guards looked at each other, then grabbed their
rifles and charged forward.
Taeon hit his hand against the door button and ducked into
the control room. Allen spun around and threw himself at one of
the guards snatching his rifle. With the same action, he shoved
the gun through the second guards helmet and blasted an energy
pulse through his head. He swung around and nailed the first
guard in the back of the head with the butt of his newly acquired
rifle.
Allen leveled his rifle and fired an auto-burst at the four
guards charging into the anteroom. The first two fell back,
toppling onto the guards behind them.
As Taeon entered the control room, he spotted two men
manning the consoles. A large window overlooked the huge bay,
the center piece of that was a machine that was no doubt the
Metal Storm Alpha. The unit was on its back. Techs scurrying
around its body. It was a drop bay, so Taeon figured that if he
could open the doors the Metal Storm would simply fall out into
the atmosphere.
One of the operators spun around, having heard the commotion
from the anteroom. He reached for his side arm, but Taeon cut
him off, quickly.
"No you don't," said Taeon, as he dodged to the side and
raised his arm toward the man.
A wave of telekinetic force ripped through the air and
slammed into the operator knocking him into the control boards.
He dropped his gun and slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Allen charged into the room and blasted his rifle at the
other operator. The second operator had enough time to turn and
reach for his pistol before being drilled in the chest by the
high energy light beam.
Taeon ran for the control boards. He look them over, trying
to find the controls for the bay doors. "Allen, hold them off!"
"Right," said Allen. He turned to hold the door.
But, a tall figure suddenly stepped through. "Out of my
way," she said.
Suddenly, Allen went flying across the room and slammed into
the back wall. He struggled to stand to his feet, but a second
invisible blast smacked him in the head and sent him to the
floor.
Taeon spun around and tried to focus his mind. X Meridian
raised her hand. A ball of white energy appeared in her palm.
She laughed and pitched the fiery sphere of destructive force
toward him.
Taeon willed a mental energy field into existence,
attempting to deflect the incoming blast of energy. The ball of
energy blasted into the deflective field, and though most of it
dispersed harmlessly away, some of it penetrated and seared into
his chest.
He staggered back, and prepared himself to blast the
telekinetic shock wave back at her; but, she still had the
advantage. A wake of psychic force resonated toward him and
slammed into his chest.
Pain exploded through his body as his ribs cracked from the
psychic blow. He toppled to the floor, trying his best to summon
the will to fight back.
"Ah hahah!" laughed X Meridian as she stepped into the room.
"Thought you could trash our new toy?"
Taeon raised his arm and sent out a wave of crushing force
toward his opponent. X raised her arm and casually brushed away
the attack.
"You are no match for me! I've been trained as a psychic
strike operative. But I won't kill you. We still have much use
for you and your friend."
Taeon struggled to his feet. A blast of mental energy
stabbed into his brain, tearing painfully though his nervous
system. The world swirled around him and he fell to the floor as
his vision blurred to black.
* * *
"Intact," reported Ryo, looking at the structural remains of
the smuggler base. "Sort of."
"Good," replied Jason from inside the cockpit. "Open up and
let me out!"
Ryo willed his chest, or rather the Metal Storm's chest, to
open, exposing the cockpit to the turbulent air outside.
"Ah!" yelped Jason as tornado speed winds lashed into the
cockpit. "Close! Close!"
Ryo did so. "I'll walk into the mecha bay and let you out.
You can access the landing bay from the basement level. It opens
upward with a pair of ground doors."
"I've got to fly in conditions like this? What's the wind
speed?"
"Eighty kph, going east to west."
"Great," replied Jason. "I love a challenge."
When they had entered the safety of the mecha bay, Jason
climbed out of the Metal Storm and headed into the abandoned
facility. Ryo walked his mecha back outside and approached the
landing bay doors where he waited.
Ten minutes later, about the time Ryo was starting to get
worried, his comm clicked on.
"Hey, Ryo, it's me," said Jason.
"Try not to use the comm. The GSC could be peeping around."
"Right. I'm taking off. Stand clear of the doors. The
base's power is off so I'm going to blast through... I hope it
doesn't damage the ship too much."
"Uh, Jason... The doors are directly above the ship. If you
fire..."
Ryo was interrupted as the bay door exploded from a volley
of missile impacts. He launched his Metal Storm away, avoiding
the tumbling chunks of burning steel debris. Through the
smoldering fury, the runner ship lifted into the sky.
"Hahah!" said Jason. "You were right! This ship's got some
major ECM gear. Switching on."
Ryo watched his scopes as the smuggler ship activated its
sensory jammer fields. It practically vanished appearing as
merely a spec, which could just as easily be written off as a
bird or sensor glitch. However, he was still perfectly visible,
unlike the Metal Storm, which had both optical cloaking and
powerful ECM gear.
"Let's see those Coalies detect me now!"
"Well, if they see you, you're screwed," replied Ryo. "But
cut the chatter. We've wasted enough time. My gut tells me, as
does practical sense, that a massive tidal wave is on its way.
If we don't get back soon, Vista and the rest have had it."
"Oh, yeah!" said Jason. The runner blasted off at full
atmospheric burn, disappearing over the horizon in a booming
super-sonic boom. "What are you waiting for!" said Jason.
"Hurry!"
Ryo lifted off and followed the cone-shaped shock wave that
had pierced the great tidal storm, created by the prodigal moon.
They Metal Storm and blockade runner thundered silently and
undetected across the shattered continent. On the horizon, they
spotted many twisters and tornadoes. The westward sky in front
was as black as night, storming with the swirling fury of a five
hundred kilometer storm, directly under the lunar zenith.
Hopefully, the storm was out at sea and well away from their base
camp.
They arrived at the western coast where the battle had
raged, and found their way back to the campsite. The Victorious
and all other GSC ships were gone, and there was no sign of an
incoming tidal wave. The water line had actually dropped, almost
to the point of exposing the sunken base.
Ryo landed the Metal Storm, and Jason set the runner down in
the river which was now a stagnate pool of water. Both left
their vehicles and joined Vista and the gunship crewmen on the
river bank.
"Is everything okay?" yelled Ryo over the high speed winds.
"The Raptor was knocked down by the earthquakes when the
moon appeared," said Vista through the external speaker on her
helmet. "I'm in my power suit for obvious reasons. The crewmen
took shelter under the Raptor. They are watching over JT."
"Can it fly?"
"Sure," said Vista. "Let's get the hell off this damned
planet!"
"You said something about a tidal wave," yelled Jason as he
ran up to the two of them, holding down his hair as best he
could. "I don't see one!"
"Tidal wave?" asked Vista. "The water line's dropped fifty
meters!"
Ryo nodded. "I was a bit off on my estimate. You see, the
moon produced a tidal bulge in the oceans on one side of the
planet, while the centrifugal forces of the planet's rotation
creates the bulge on the other. Right now, the moon is sucking
up all the water into a huge bulge in the western ocean," said
Ryo pointing to the west. The moon couldn't be seen, as it was
obscured by the pitch black storm. "As the planet rotates, the
moon is apparently rotating with us, having taken a geo-sync
position. I guess they did that to hold orbit near the battle.
Anyway, it's causing more and more water to pile up. When the
moon does return to a normal orbit, assuming it does, there will
be one hell of a tidal wave as all that water is released."
"Man," said Jason. "Let's get out of here!"
Ryo nodded and ran back to the Metal Storm. Vista headed
for the Psycho Raptor and Jason followed. They and the crewman
helped to get the comatose JT into the runner ship.
It took the longest to get the crewmen into the runner. One
of the men was freaked out, screaming like a madman and
frantically waving his arms around. Jason pumped him full of
some drug and dragged him into the blockade runner. Some people
can't take total global devastation, figured Ryo. It was no big
deal. The system would eventually stabilize and Arcturus would
be back to normal in less than a century. Unless all the
volcanic ash stayed in the atmosphere and caused an world-wide
ice age...
No matter. It wasn't his planet. Bye-bye to Arcturus,
thought Ryo as he lifted off the ground next to the blockade
runner. The Raptor blasted off like a rocket and shot on ahead
of them as it accelerated to break the planetary gravity. The
runner then blasted into the sky on its massive thrusters, and
Ryo followed after.
Bye-bye to World of the Damned. It was more trouble that it
was worth, anyway.
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
Jason Grivar
Dr. Kei Gunn
General Avenger
Alax Nair
Leta Zodiac
And Everyone Else
Mecha Designs
Metal Storm Beta - Mark Chase
Psycho Raptor - Mark Chase
Raptor Series - Mark Chase
Gallant - Mark Chase
(all mecha were constructed under
the Mekton Zeta© RPG system, by
R. Talsorian Games, Inc)