"Flank him from the left," yelled Ryo over the simpod comm.
     "Got it," replied Taeon.
     It was yet another sim, and though his skills had improved
greatly since his first sim with Ryo Gunn, this one was
different.  This time he and Ryo were pitted against Destiny
Gray. Two against one.  Yet the odds were still stacked against
them.
       He launched his new Storm Giant mechasuit into the sky.
The field of brown and green grassland fell away below.  On the
horizon sprawled a red clay desert where waited the ace pilot.
     Ryo blasted into the air shortly behind Taeon in his Killing
Wind class mecha.  "Come on out, Destiny," said Ryo.  "Let's see
how good you really are."
     "Sayonara," growled the response.
     Far away in the desert, an L-Geimour blasted forward on its
massive plasma thrusters, skimming across the clay-red landscape
like some interstellar meteorite.  Taeon leveled his heavy glaser
rifle and fired, but the snapping bolt of gamma-ray energy
sizzled uselessly through a towering rock formation.
     Ryo reached his left arm back, letting a set of hydraulic
control servos snapped into place.  The back mounted heavy
blaster cannon slid down and locked into the arm's actuator
mounts.  Swinging his arm forward, now equipped with a massive
particle blaster cannon, Ryo grinned.  The sound of charging
capacitors whined through the air as the great weapon prepared to
fire.
     Suddenly, without warning, the L-Geimour leveled its fusion-
plasma rod and opened fire.  A flood of energy erupted from the
staff and swept toward Ryo's mecha.
     "What the...!" exclaimed Ryo.  He tried vainly to dive away
from the torrent of hellish fire, but the thick beam ripped
through his mecha as if his armor were nothing more than
styrofoam.  The Killing Wind vanished in a cloud of ionized gas
and the simulator screen went black.  The words 'Pilot Killed'
appeared before him.  "No fair!"
     Taeon fell back in his seat, clutching his controller with
sweaty hands.  He was still alive, but not for much longer.
"Computer, what kind of power sources does that thing have?"
     "The L-Geimour's core system is a gravitic power cell at
twelve megawatt output.  High capacity energy cell system linked
to primary weapon.  Currently depleted to seventy percent."
     "Can it use that blast again!"
     "Analysis indicates one more shot with previous attack is
possible."
     "Gee, just one more..." grumbled Taeon
     The whirlwind of thruster energy kicked up a storm of dust
as Destiny spun his L-Geimour around to face Taeon.  He pointed
his staff and fired.
     Taeon saw it coming and rocked his mecha into the sky.  The
wave of energy rippled below Taeon's Storm Giant and annihilated
a square acre of pristine forest.  "So much for your super-
blast," stated Taeon.
     "I still have my plasma halberd," stated Destiny as he
launched toward Taeon.  He flipped his staff around and a thick
blade of plasma vented out of the end forming an axe-like energy
weapon.
     Taeon landed on a hillside south of the small forest grove.
He fired his glaser rifle again, but Destiny pulled the huge
mechasuit out of harms way with an almost casual roll maneuver.
     As the L-Geimour closed the range, Taeon attempted to fire
again. He never got a chance.  Destiny brought down his mecha's
plasma halberd, slicing the glaser rifle in half.  As the L-
Geimour landed on the hill, Taeon blasted off again in an attempt
to escape his vastly superior opponent.
     "You fight well," commented Destiny Gray over the comm.  "I
would almost say you were good.  Unfortunately, I cannot."
     Taeon twisted his controller around and guided his mecha's
hand to the hip storage compartment.  The compartment flipped
open, and he grabbed a hand grenade.  "Almost good?" asked Taeon
as his mecha shot over the treetops of the nearby grove.  "Try
best!"  He reared his arm back like a pitcher in a ball game and
slung the grenade back at the hill.
     The bomb landed only meters away from Destiny's L-Geimour
and sank into the soft earth from its sheer weight and speed.
     "Damn you!" screamed Destiny.  He launched his mecha away
from the hill, but all to soon the massive grenade detonated.
The explosion enveloped nearly everything within a hundred
meters, including the L-Geimour, and blasted the entire hill into
a shower of dirt, clay, and boulders.
     The L-Geimour spiraled out of the fireball, knocked out of
control by the shock wave.  Destiny was able to regain control in
seconds.  "Nice!" he exclaimed.  "You knocked out most of my
control gyros. But I'm still more than a match for you!"
     Taeon watched as the scathed, but still very deadly, L-
Geimour launched a lightning fast attack.  The mecha rocketed
into the sky and became an almost invisible silhouette in the
blinding white sun.  It dove down and overshot Taeon's Storm
Giant.  As he passed, he swung his plasma halberd down like the
Grim Reaper harvesting a hapless soul.  The blade sliced deep
into the Storm Giant's torso and cleaved off a massive section of
the thruster pack.
     No longer supported by its engines, the mecha plummeted into
a thicket of trees far below.  Taeon clenched his teeth as a
trickle of sweet crept down his nose.  He checked his displays
for any signs of hope, but his consoles gave no such assurance.
     The victorious L-Geimour blast into the sky.  Destiny
switched his hand-held fusion-plasma weapon to its last mode.
Arcs of high-energy plasma surged around the staff.  An electro-
gravitic field focused the seething plasma into a pencil thin
beam of super-heated gas and accelerated it to near light-speed.
The devastating particle beam sliced through the forest and
bisected Taeon's mecha straight down the center.  Half a
heartbeat later the forest was consumed in a blazing fireball as
the Storm Giant's dynamo reactor core was unleashed.
     'Pilot Killed' scrolled up on Taeon's blank display screen.
"Good night!" was all he could muster.
     The simpod door slid open, and Taeon looked up from the
display screen.  "We were cremated!" he said.  Shaking his head
in disbelieve, he climbed out of the simpod and wiped some sweat
from his face.  "I thought for sure that grenade would have taken
him out, but it barely even slowed him down."
     Ryo nodded.  He leaded back against his simpod and cross his
arms, trying to act nonchalant.  "Talk about bad luck.  If I had
managed to fire my megablast, he would've been toast."
     "It's useless to dwell on what might have been," said
Destiny, gravely.  Destiny looked completely unfazed, as if the
battle sim had been a walk in the park.  "You both have
potential, but you need much practice and discipline."
     "You're just too damn good," said Ryo.  "What the hell would
make Space Force demote someone as good as you back sergeant?"
     Destiny stared at Ryo for a second, then looked away.
"Loyalty is everything, Ryo Gunn.  Never forget that.  Orders,
hierarchy, bureaucracy... even self-preservation are all
secondary ideals, pale in comparison to the ultimate rule of war.
Never betray your friends, no matter what the orders are.  If
that happens, your soul will die with them."  He turned and
walked solemnly out of the room.
                           *    *    *
     "What's going on?" asked Ryo, looking around.  Everyone from
the Guardian Squadron had been called into the Pilots' Lounge.
     "Dunno," replied Michael.
     Taeon sat down in a chair next to Lynn Firewolf.  "Hey,
Lynn.  How you doing?"
     "Hi, Taeon," she replied.  "I'm okay.  The doc says I'm
fully recovered and ready to fly again, but I still have this
tickling feeling in the back of my throat.  Doc says it's caused
by high activity from the newly regenerated nerve fibers.  It
should go away in a couple days."
     "That's good," sighed Taeon.  "I'm sorry about what
happened.  It was my fault...  I should have known..."
     "No," said Lynn. "It wasn't your fault.  You did what you
had to do to stop the spy, and that is what you should have
done."
     "Yeah, right," objected Michael as he sat down next to Lynn.
"This clown put my babe in med-bay for two weeks."
     "I'm not your 'babe'," replied Lynn laughing.  "And Taeon's
not a clown."
     "Yeah, whatever," said Michael.
     "Hey, Michael," said Taeon.  "I hear you have a vacancy for
rent.  Why don't you see if you can get a brain to move in?"
     "Excuse me?" asked Michael.
     Just then, Major Falcon entered the room followed by an
attractive young woman.  She was in a Space Force uniform and had
the rank pin of a first sergeant.  Even so, she walked with the
air of authority that only an officer would have.
     "This is First Sergeant Kay Sabre," introduced Major Katana
Falcon.  "She makes the latest addition to your squadron.  You
should know that she scored exceptionally high in combat tests
and was transferred here immediately following her exit exam."
     "That's strange," whispered Michael.  "I've never heard of
anyone being transferred straight into the Third Wing, except for
me, of course."
     "If you really must know," started Kay as she walked up to
their small group, "I set a new training record.  They said I
could best serve the Empire in the Third Wing."
     "Top score, eh?" asked Ryo.
     Kay turned around and looked at Ryo.  "Blue hair," she
stated, noting his hair color.  "Altered RN-450 gene?"
     "Yeah.  My parents wanted me to be a career military man, I
think."
     "You think?"
     "They're dead now."
     "I'm sorry," said Key.  She narrowed her eyes. "I missed
your name..."
     "Ryo Gunn."
     She smiled and nodded her head.  "I am most pleased to make
your acquaintance, Ryo Gunn."  She faced the rest of her new
comrades.  "I hope serving aboard the Vigilant is just as
exciting as they say it is back at Camp Anchorage."
     "Oh, believe me," said Taeon.  "It is."
                           *    *    *
     Ryo walked into his room and collapsed on the small bed.
His quarters were cramped, but adequate.  Most non-coms had
bunkrooms, but not the pilots.  All pilots had individual rooms.
Very small rooms, but privacy was privacy.  Yet another one of
the perks of being a mecha pilot.
     He took a small amulet-sized disk off his bookshelf and
pressed a button on the bottom of it.  A five inch hologram of
his father materialized.  His image seemed to be standing on the
holodisk itself. "Son," he said, "this may be the last time you
hear from me.  What I have to tell you may be the most shocking
and terrible thing a father has to tell his own son..."
     Ryo was interrupted by a knock at his door.  He switched off
the holodisk and looked up.  "Come in."
     He half expected to see JT, but when the door slid open it
was Kay Sabre.  "Kay?" asked Ryo, setting the holodisk aside.
"Can I help you?"
     She shrugged.  "Just wanting to get acquainted with my
squadron.  Mind if I come in?"
     "Why not."
     Kay smiled and walked into his room.  She looked at the
holodisk on the table.  "A holodisk?"
     "My father's last message to me, from many years ago."  He
pushed it slightly away from her.  "It's kind of personal."
     Kay nodded.  "Their last message to you...  I see.  My
father was killed in the line of duty.  Mom's still alive,
though."
     "Where are you from?  Procyon?  You have an accent I can't
quite place."
     "Humph.  Actually I'm from a backwater farming world out in
the Frontier.  The planet was taken over by the GSC."
     "Yeah.  My parents were killed by pirates on the Frontier."
     "The Frontier can be a dangerous place.  What were they
doing out there anyway?"
     "They were helping a mineral survey corporation look for
iridium mines in several unexplored star systems.  I guess those
systems weren't unexplored after all."
     Kay opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted
as an alarm crackled to life.  "General quarters.  All hands,
general quarters.  GCS prisoners Major Alan Briggs, Sergeant Olna
Sennar, and Lieutenant Benn Thalan have escaped from the main
holding block.  All available personal are ordered to apprehend
escapees with deadly force."
     "Major Briggs?" asked Ryo.  "That's the guy who's Titan I
stole to help rescue the Admiral!"
     "No kidding?" asked Kay, with an oddly sour expression.
     The door slid open and Taeon popped his head into the room.
"Hey, Ryo..."
     "Yeah, I know," said Ryo.  He reached into his equipment
locker and pulled out his laser rifle.  "All available personnel
means everyone who's off duty.  That's us."
     Ryo, Taeon, and Kay stepped out into the hall.  Personnel
scrambled around the halls in a disturbingly disorderly manner.
     "I need to get my gun," stated Kay.
     "Right," replied Ryo.
     She turned around and dashed down the hall toward her room.
     "Think we should wait for her?" asked Taeon.
     "No time.  We should head aft, toward the mecha bays."
     "But the shuttle bay is in the forward bow.  The two FTL
shuttle craft are kept there."
     "I know," said Ryo.  "Most personnel will be heading that
way, leaving the mecha bays totally unguarded.  Someone has to
cover them."
     Taeon smiled and checked the charge on his laser pistol.
"Let's go."
                           *    *    *
     As Taeon charged into section twenty-five, deck eight, he
knew Ryo had been correct in his assumption as to Briggs' escape
plan.
     Ryo knelt down next to the dead crewman.  "He's dead.
Multiple bullet wounds.  They must have machine pistols."  He
looked at the name tag.  "Crewman Ferisson.  Poor guy.  At the
wrong place at the wrong time."
     Taeon took out his comm.  "CIC, this is Sergeant Taeon
Toshio in section twenty-five, deck eight.  We have found a body.
Crewman Ferisson."
     "Copy.  We are sending a security team to your location.
Proceed with caution."
     "Right," replied Taeon.
     Ryo looked around on the floor.  "There is a thin blood
trail leading this way.  It looks like one of the escapees was
wounded.  At least Ferisson went out fighting."
     Taeon switched the safety off on his laser pistol.  "Looks
like the trail is heading toward mecha bay 2-B."
     Ryo dialed the output on his rifle to max.  "C'mon."
     The trail lead off the main hallway and down a side corridor
toward the mecha bay.  They entered an F-shaped junction, with
the mecha bay entrance down the first corridor to the right.
"I'll take the corner," stated Ryo.  "There's an office next to
the mecha bay anteroom.  Take it."
     Taeon nodded and slipped into the office.  As door slid shut
behind him, a chain of gun rang out.  He jumped behind a desk as
bullets peppered the walls and computer terminals where he had
been only a fraction of a second before.  The escapee who had
attacked started to slip out office into the mecha bay anteroom.
"Not so fast, Coalie," said Taeon as he fired his laser pistol.
     The beam of focused light stabbed through the man's chest
and burned a coin-sized hole through his left ventricle.  The
escapee dropped his gun and staggered through the door, but
collapsed as his brain got the message his body was dead.
     Ryo heard the gun fire and ran down the corridor.  The two
remaining escapees were at the mecha bay door trying to by-pass
the security code.  One of the men spun around and sprayed his
machine pistol back at Ryo.
     Ryo dove around the intersection corner and fired his laser
rifle.  The beam missed and sliced a nearly perfect straight
black line down the far wall.
     From his hiding place, Ryo heard the mecha bay door slide
open.  Then he heard an authoritative voice speak out.  "Huhum.
I know you, Ryo Gunn.  How very amusing you should see me off.
Some other time. Lieutenant, hold him off."
     "Yes, sir," replied the other man.
     Ryo rolled back into the corridor and triggered his rifle,
raking it back and forth.  The beam sliced across the enemy's
chest.  He groaned and staggered to the floor dead.  Ryo stood
and ran for the door as Major Briggs slipped through.  The doors
closed and sealed tight.  Half a second later, a loud gun shot
from the other side.  Ryo punched the door panel to open the
door, but the controls were dead.
     Taeon ran out of the office to join him.  "Hurry, we have to
stop him!"
     "He blasted the door control from the other side and killed
the control circuits.  We have to force the door manually."
     As Taeon and Ryo contemplated their next action, the much-
needed security team arrived.  "Report," one of them requested.
     "About time you got here," said Ryo.  "Major Briggs jammed
this door and is probably in the process of escaping in a mecha.
If he had the security codes to get into the mecha bay, he might
have the codes to get the space doors open."
     "Got it," said the guard.  He took out his comm and called
the bridge.  "Captain Armour, Major Briggs is escaping.  Lockout
all override codes for the mecha bays."
     "It's too late," came the voice of Captain Armour.  "He's
already launched."
     "Shoot him down!" exclaimed Ryo.
     "He's out of range of our point-defense grid," replied the
Captain.  "I'll launch the First Wing to pursue."
     A moment later, the Captain's voice came over the intercom.
"First Wing launch to pursue escaping L-Geimour class mecha.  All
other pilots report to your mecha and remain on standby."
     "Look's like our party's over," stated Taeon.
                           *    *    *
     "Escaped!" exclaimed Ryo.
     "Unfortunately, an enemy frigate dropped out of diverspace
shortly after Major Briggs launched," stated Katana.  She folded
her arms on the briefing room table.  "It picked him up and
jumped out before our mecha were even in firing range."
     "That's weird," observed Michael.  "How could an enemy ship
be waiting at the edge of diverspace here in the Eridani system
and still go undetected?  Furthermore, they must have had help
from a source on board this ship for him to have escaped."
     Katana Falcon nodded.  "Admiral Steele is not currently on
board, as she is at the Grand Assembly meeting on Eridani right
now.  Had she been her, her diver abilities would have been able
to foresee this escape attempt, and she could easily have spotted
the enemy ship in diverspace.  Ship security does not believe
that we have a spy on board.  They have concluded that this was
simply a well planned and superbly executed escape.  Major Briggs
master-minded it, after all."
     "We nearly had him, too," said Taeon hitting his fist
against the table.
     "Yes," said Katana.  "You and Sergeant Gunn took out the
other two GSC officers, but Major Briggs escaped."
     "Who is Major Briggs, anyway?" asked Ryo.
     "Major Alan Briggs is a grave danger, not only to us, but to
the GSC as well.  Imperial Intelligence reports that Briggs
climbed in rank from Lieutenant to Major in less than a year.  He
is the best mecha pilot in recorded military history with nearly
a hundred kills to his name.  Psychological profiles of him,
recovered by Imperial spies, indicate that he is a sociopathic
megalomaniac and obviously has some major delusions of grandeur.
Intelligence believes that many GSC military generals are
actually afraid of him, and several assassination attempts have
been made against his life, all of which failed.  His being
stationed on that cruiser we captured may have been an attempt to
send him on a suicide mission to get him out of their way."
     "I don't get it," said Michael.  "Briggs is an officer in
the GSC...  But if the GSC has labeled him as a danger to the
Coalition, then why is he so hard form them to get rid of?"
     "Apparently, he has some great leadership abilities and
astounding charisma.  Nearly every ship he serves aboard is under
his control within a week.  Soldiers and officers alike are
willing to follow him to hell itself.  Its believed that he spent
nearly ten years building up contacts and alliances during his
double term in the GSC senate, after which he joined the military
and started his climb to power.  What he couldn't do in the GSC
bureaucracy he's obviously doing with the military."
     "He was once a politician?" asked Michael.
     Katana smiled. "A terrible politician, but a brilliant
leader.  That's how he got so far."
     "You're right," agreed Ryo.  "Briggs ordered that GSC
sergeant to stay behind and hold me back while he got away.  The
soldier obeyed without a second of hesitation, even though he
knew it would be his death."
     "If Briggs had the security codes to get into the mecha bay
and capture a mecha, he must have had help from someone on board
our ship," asserted Michael.
     Katana leaned back in her chair.  "That, or he forced it out
of the man who was killed in the hallway.  He was a technician
and had clearance for those codes.  At any rate, we are tracking
the GSC frigate and are currently in pursuit.  However, we are
about four percent slower than the enemy ship, so we are losing
ground fast.  Astrogation reports that the course and heading
appears to lead to a Frontier system called Mothair.  Nothing
much is in Mothair except a small mining colony.  The enemy
frigate will be arriving in three days, and we will be a few
hours behind it.  With luck, he won't escape twice."
                           *    *    *
     JT turned away from the mecha CAD terminal with a surprised
look on her face. "Are you sure you want an A9-G Killing Wind?"
she asked.
     "Absolutely," replied Ryo.  "I know it didn't hold up well
in the sim, but I was fighting Destiny Gray.  I really like the
hellfire blaster cannon.  That monster can pump out the damage."
     "One shot and the energy cells are emptied," explained JT.
"After that, all you have are the two low power lasers and the
Inferno proton particle beam at a fraction of the power of the
hellfire blast."
     Ryo crossed his arms and gave her a smile.  "Don't forget
the right arm's thunder-gauntlet.  That energy field can punch
right through a mecha's torso."
     "Maybe so, but you have to get into hand-to-hand combat
range before you can use it.  Taeon requested the Storm Giant as
his mecha.  Maybe you should consider that type instead.  It only
has a heavy laser rifle and a beam sword, but the armor's better
and it has a hell of a lot more endurance."
     "The only reason the Storm Giant held up in the sim was
because Destiny was toying with Taeon."
     "Don't be so sure."
     Ryo looked down at the design terminal.  His eyes bulged
wide open.  "What the hell is that?"
     "MX-44 Maelstrom.  A metal knight of unsurpassed
destruction."
     "Good God," exclaimed Ryo.  "What's that unit there in the
chest area?"
     "An electro-gravatic kinetic/energy deflection generator."
     "Cool.  A force shield.  Now that's a mecha I'd like to take
into battle!"
     "Sorry, it's still a prototype.  We don't even have one on
board yet.  Besides you won't have a chance in hell of getting
assigned to one until you're at least a lieutenant."
     Ryo fell back in a chair.  "Well, I guess I'll be taking the
Killing Wind."  He leaned forward and draped his arm around her
shoulders.  "If you want me to come back after the battle, maybe
you could squeeze in a few modifications here and there.  Perhaps
some hyper-response actuators or maybe a force shield..."
     "Love to, but we'll be dropping out of diverspace any
minute.  I don't have time."
     "Right."
     "I promise, I'll install some good upgrades when you get
back from this mission."
     "Attention," came a bland, neutral voice from the intercom.
"All mecha pilots, report to your respective ready rooms for
mission briefing."
     "See you later," said Ryo as he headed out the door.
     "Make it back, Sergeant," replied JT smiling.  "That's an
order."
                           *    *    *
     "Let me start by congratulating Destiny Gray on his
commission to second lieutenant," said Major Katana Falcon.
     Everyone looked at Destiny who was rather glum in light of
his promotion.  But that was nothing unusual.  "So from now on
salute me," he stated. "And address me as 'sir'."
     "How the hell did he make lieutenant without going to
officers' academy?" asked Michael.
     "I use to be an officer, remember?" asked Destiny.  "I don't
have to go twice."
     "Moving on," continued Katana, "we've dropped out of
diverspace and have spotted the frigate.  However, the GSC
flagship Victorious has arrived as well.  Both the frigate and
the Victorious have launched mecha squadrons to escort Briggs
over to their flagship.  We believe he is piloting a Titan class
mecha.  CIC estimates that if we launch our squadrons now, we can
intercept Briggs and the escort before they reach the
Victorious."
     "Doesn't the Victorious outclass us five to one?"
     "No.  Only four to one.  But we don't plan to get within
ship-to-ship combat range.  If Major Briggs manages to get within
the defensive perimeter of the Victorious, we will have to pull
you guys out and accept the loss.  I will be joining you on this
mission in my modified Mindancer.  If there are no more
questions, let's get to our mecha and hit vacuum."
     "A Mindancer," said Taeon to Ryo.  "That's has one of those
new neural interface controls, doesn't it?"
     "Yeah," replied Ryo.  "Guess that's the sort of hardware you
get when your a major."
     "Cut the talk and move," said Destiny.
     "Oh, yes sir, sir," replied Ryo saluting.
     Destiny ignored the smart off and brushed past Ryo without
even a second glance.
     "Real sweet guy," said Kay.
     "Destiny?" asked Lynn, grabbing her helmet off the table.
"Well, why don't you ask him out."
     "No.  I meant Ryo," corrected Kay with a grin.
                           *    *    *
     The Guardian Squadron, following in suite with the rest of
the Third Wing, launched out of bay 3 and blasted toward the
departing enemy squadrons.
     "Okay, here's the play," said Katana on the comm.  "The
Third Wing has been charged with stabbing deep into enemy lines.
The two wings ahead of us will cut a path while the rest of us
attack the core in the hopes of finding and destroying Briggs."
     "If the GSC's so keen on off'n Briggs, why not let them take
care of him?" asked Michael.
     "It's apparent that Briggs has the support of the GSC
flagship," stated Katana.  "That being the case, I don't see any
real future in store for anyone in the Coalition who opposes
Briggs.  If we don't stop him now, we may be looking at another
fifty years of war."
     "Roger that," replied Michael.
     Moments passed, and soon the ten mecha squadrons were upon
the equally matched enemy squadrons.  A storm of explosions
washed through the black vacua of space.
     "Watch it, Ryo!" called Lynn over the comm.  "You've got two
Coalies on you!"
     "Got it," replied Ryo as he spun his Killing Wind around to
face the approaching foes.  He switched his left arm cannon to
low power inferno beam, saving the hellfire blast for any heavy
opposition; Briggs in particular.
     His tactical computer ID'd his two attackers.  "Looks like
one Gallant and a Moray class mecha.  Dammit.  I hate Morays.
They have a kickass rail rifle."
     The Gallant swooped down toward him and unleashed a swarm of
missiles.  Ryo switched on his missile jammer and the incoming
flight of deadly rockets scattered away like confused sparrows.
"Never use radar guided missiles," stated Ryo as he triggered the
particle gun.
     The seething beam of protons lanced out of the Killing
Wind's left arm and blasted into the Gallant's sternum.  A flash
of white light exploded from under the chest armor plating and
the mecha tumbled helplessly past Ryo.  "Guess that pilot didn't
get along to well with my stream of heavy-recoil nuclei."
     Without warning, the Coalition Moray darted behind Ryo's
mecha and fired its rail rifle at nearly point-blank range.
     "Damn!" exclaimed Ryo.  His proximity sensors wailed in
protest as the hypersonic titanium/iridium spike shot past his
mecha, missing by mere inches.  Ryo spun his mecha around and
fired his proton gun in retaliation.  The beam of energy sliced
neatly through the Moray's head, vaporizing nearly every sensor
and comm system on board.
     "Let's see you fight blind," stated Ryo.
     "Incoming!" yelled Katana on the comm.
     "What?" asked Ryo.  He checked his sensors.  The enemy mecha
had turned to the offensive.  Nearly thirty mecha were rocketing
toward their position.  "Oh, great."
     "Gray, take the squadron at oh-nine-seven.  Avenger,
Firewolf, take the ones at three-one-four.  Sabre...  Where the
hell is Kay Sabre?"
     A fuzzy and garbled voice came over the channel.  "My
reactor is... overheated...  under attack...  can't hold out..."
     "Hang on, Kay," stated Katana.  "Looks like she's at three-
five-five.  Toshio, Gunn, I want you to bail her out up there.
See if you can chase off those attacker."
     "Yes, ma'am," replied Taeon and Ryo.
     Ryo turned his attention back to the headless enemy mecha.
It was now firing rail rounds in every random direction.  "Guess
I should put this one out of his misery first."
     Launching toward his doomed target, Ryo charged up his
thunder-gauntlet.  He balled his Mecha's fist and pulled his
right arm back.  Tongues of super-hot electricity licked around
his fist and lower arm as a blade of solid electrical plasma
materialized from out of his knuckles.
     "Die!" screamed Ryo as he slammed his molten hot plasma fist
into the Moray's chest.  His arm ripped through the mecha's body,
obliterating the pilot compartment it so frailly protected.  The
thunder-gauntlet sliced into the mecha's dynamo reactor,
puncturing the delicate electromagnetic containment pod.  As Ryo
launched away, the lifeless mechasuit was consumed in its own
uncontrolled reactor explosion.
     Ryo joined Taeon as he hurried toward Kay's position.
"There they are," stated Taeon.  "I've got them this time."
     Taeon pulled out his heavy laser rifle and fired at the
nearest enemy.  The beam drilled into the Gallant's reactor
chamber and brought a premature end to the pilot's career with a
grandiose fireball.  "Flash one," stated Taeon.
     "Watch out!" called Ryo.  He spotted another Gallant/Moray
pair swooping out of the heavenly void toward Taeon.  The
Gallant's missile bay flipped open revealing an array of fifty
mini-missiles.
     Ryo took aim with his inferno particle gun and fired.  The
protons cut into the Gallant's missile bay, ripping across the
rows of arming warheads.  The mecha's entire left side lit up in
a flash of light.  Half second later, the entire suit blasted
open like a firecracker in a pinata.
     "Thanks, Ryo," said Taeon.  "You owe me one."
     "Yeah," replied Ryo.  Then he caught on.  "Hey, what?!"
     Taeon laughed and shot toward the approaching Moray.  The
Moray fired a shot from its huge rail rifle and carelessly
missed.  "Amateur," stated Taeon as he slung his laser rifle over
his shoulders, freeing both his mecha's hands.
     "What are you doing?" asked Ryo as he watched on the sensor
screen.
     Taeon didn't reply, but he didn't need to.  He extended both
arms as he came into hand-to-hand combat range with the enemy
Moray.  The Moray prepared to fire again, but Taeon clutched both
his arm controllers and shoved them forward, then up. The Storm
Giant's hands contacted the Moray's rail rifle and Taeon
triggered his mecha's hand actuators at the flick of thumb
button.  The mecha's hands clamped shut and Taeon guided his
mecha actions with near human-like fluidity.  As the rail gun
fired, the Storm Giant ripped the gun from the Moray's hands and
flipped it over to face the enemy mecha.
     The surprised Coalition pilot had only a nanosecond to
ponder his fatal situation as the rail round ripped through the
mechasuit's chest, piloting compartment, central structure pylon,
reactor core, thruster system, and finally out the rear armor
plates.  Rail rifle in hand, Taeon's Storm Giant shot away from
the Moray as it exploded in a sphere of hellish fire.
     "Kay?" called Ryo on the comm.
     "I've switched to my backup power supply," she stated on the
comm.  "I don't think its a good fix though."
     "You'd better head back to the carrier," stated Ryo.
     "I guess you're right," said Kay.  Her Raptor slowly moved
back toward the Vigilant on half-powered thrusters.
     "You need an escort?" asked Ryo.
     "I don't think so," replied Kay.  "The fighting isn't thick
out here.  You can rejoin the others."
     Ryo checked his sensors.  "Okay.  Looks like they've almost
reached the Victorious.  Come on Taeon.  We need to hurry or
we'll miss all the action."
     Taeon tossed his heavy laser rifle away and gripped the
newly acquired rail rifle in hand.  "Now this is a gun!"
     "A ten ton rifle?" asked Ryo, surprised by the weapon's
shear bulk.  "That things nearly a third the size you are."
     "Yeah.  It'll slow me down a bit and cut my maneuverability;
but, hey, one round from this sucker can plaster any mecha out
here."
     "Right, I...  Oh, my God," said Ryo as his sensors detected
three new incoming targets.
     Taeon looked at his own sensors and nearly choked.  "Except
THAT!"
     Escorted by two Morays, a massive Titan class mecha rocketed
into firing range.
     "What the hell is he doing way out here?" questioned Ryo.
"We're a thousand klicks away from the Victorious!"
     "No..." said Taeon consulting the battle reports.  "It looks
like the Victorious is headed this way, and our boys are on the
retreat!"
     "Great!" exclaimed Ryo charging up his hellfire cannon.
"It's down to us I guess."
     Ryo swung the Killing Wind's massive cannon into its firing
position and aimed toward the incoming Titan.  Praying he would
hit, Ryo triggered his one-shot superweapon.  The thick beam of
destructive energy pulsated into the multi-ton space behemoth.
     Explosions detonated across the Titan's body and fire
erupted from every joint.  Both arms disintegrated as the wake of
energy swept over it.  A fraction of second later, the shoulder
mounted pulsar cannon vaporized.  The main thruster pack exploded
as the mecha's torso armor melted away like glass in a blast
furnace.  Finally, the giant Titan vanished in a flash of blue
and gold as its main reactor plant went critical.
     "Yes!" exclaimed both Ryo and Taeon.
     Then, a laugh came over the standard radio channel.  "I see
you destroyed the decoy unit."  The face of Major Briggs appeared
on Ryo's comm display screen.  He smiled.  "I doubt you can fire
that weapon again."
     "He's in one of the Morays!" exclaimed Taeon.
     Ryo switched his gun back to the standard proton beam.
"I'll have you for lunch, Briggs!"
     "I think not!"  Briggs smiled.  "We need not fight, you and
I.  I knew your parents, Ryo.  Come with me.  Your future lies
not with the Empire, nor even with the Coalition, but with the
new Empire of the Stars!  And you who holds the key to that
glorious future!"
     "Yeah, well, you have no future, Coalie scum!" exclaimed Ryo
and fired his proton beam.
     The beam missed its target as Briggs casually dodged his
Moray to the right.  "So be it!" he yelled back.
     Ryo prepared to fire again, bringing his left arm to bare on
Briggs' mecha.  But the Major had the upper hand.  His Moray
dodged around like an acrobat in the Olympics and Ryo couldn't
even get a lock-on.  Then, without warning, Briggs fired his
mecha's rail rifle.  The hundred kilogram projectile closed the
distance in half a second and drove hard into the Killing Wind's
abdomen.
     Explosions echoed through Ryo's mechasuit as it was torn
completely in half by the kinetic force of the impact.
"Warning!" blared an alarm.  "Core breached.  Ejection sequence
engaged."
     "Dammit!" cursed Ryo as his piloting compartment blasted out
the top of his exploding mecha.  His pod lifted away and carried
him a safe distance from the exploding mechasuit.
     "The sims are starting to turn out as bad omens!" exclaimed
Taeon.  "This is like our sim with Destiny, only worse!  This is
real!"
     The second Moray rocketed for Taeon, but Taeon ignored him
and took flight after Briggs.  He fired a round from his rail
rifle, but missed as the expert pilot rolled away evasively.
     "You are not even a worthy adversary," stated Briggs over
the comm.  "Take him out."
     "Yes, sir," replied the pilot of the second Moray.
     The second Moray launched its attack.  A flight of six heavy
missiles blasted from the mecha's shoulder missile bay.  Taeon's
missile jammer was able to divert some of the rockets, but half a
second behind the missile volley came the Captain's second
attack.  The rail round ripped through the Storm Giant's thrust
pod and obliterated the entire booster control system.  Taeon's
mecha was dead in space.
     But not without a fighting chance, thought Taeon as he
watched Briggs' mecha rocket out of firing range.  He turned his
attention back to the second Moray.  Leveling his rail rifle, he
fired.  The shot clipped the enemy's right arm, but did little
damage.
     The Moray came to a stop directly in front of Taeon's Storm
Giant and fired its rail rifle at point black range, straight
into the Giant's left shoulder.  The entire arm was ripped off
its barrings, and went tumbling off into deep space, rail rifle
and all.
     It only took Taeon only a second to recover and retaliate.
The kinetic energy from the impact sent his mecha hurdling
backwards, spinning him around to the left.  Somehow he managed
to pull out his beam sword and ignite it.  As the blade of energy
extended, his mecha continued its spin and Taeon raise the blade
to swing down on his attacker.
     The enemy didn't expect an attack and had closed to only a
few meters.  The beam of condensed fusion energy sliced neatly
through the Moray's chest, turning a ton of armor into vaporous
metal and molten slag.
     Knowing he had a chance, Taeon brought his weapon back to
strike again.  However, the enemy leveled his rail rifle and
planted the barrel under the sternum armor plate, right against
Taeon's piloting compartment.
     Realizing his situation, Taeon slammed his hand against the
ejection switch.  The top of the Storm Giant blew away as his
ejection pod lifted out of the torso.  The enemy fired, and the
rail round blasted into the mecha's chest a fraction of a second
behind the launching pod.  Taeon's pod carried him to semi-safety
as his mecha was wiped from existence in the fireball below him.
     For an eternal heartbeat, Taeon feared the enemy would come
after him in his helpless ejection pod.  Instead the Moray
blasted off and followed Major Briggs on his way toward the
incoming Victorious.
     Ten minutes later, the enemy squadrons flew back into their
hanger bays and the two GSC warships disappeared into diverspace.
     Shortly thereafter, Ryo and Taeon were rescued by their
squadron and taken to the safety of the flagship Vigilant.
                           *    *    *
     "Briggs escaped," stated Major Katana.  "Again."
     "Really?" asked Ryo sarcastically.  "I didn't notice."
     Katana eyed Ryo Gunn coldly, then went on.  "You all
preformed remarkably well, though."
     "We got toasted!" stated Taeon.
     "But you were fighting a pair of ace pilots.  I'm amazed
either of you are still alive."
     "What was all that talk from Briggs about?" asked Michael
from across the briefing room table.
     "You heard that?" asked Ryo.
     "Yeah.  He was on an open channel."
     "Oh, well.  I really don't know.  Maybe he had me mistaken
for someone else."
     "Maybe so," said Katana.  "However, he has focused a great
deal of interest on you Sergeant, and I plan to find out why."
     "He tried to kill me!"
     Taeon jumped in to support his friend.  "That's right.
Obviously, Ryo can't be that important!"
     "Quite, Taeon," replied Ryo.  "I don't think you're
helping."
     "Well, one thing's for certain," said Katana.  "Major Briggs
is still on the loose and he now has the most powerful ship in
the GSC under his control.  It is only a matter of time until
this war escalates to something even greater.  And I have a
feeling Briggs will be leading it all the way."
     Ryo groaned and rubbed his temples.  "I hope to hell you're
wrong."
     "Unfortunately," replied Katana, "I rarely ever am."


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
Michael Avenger
Katana Falcon
J.T.
Destiny Gray
Lynn Firewolf
Captain Richard Armour
And Everyone Else

Mecha Designs
Storm Giant    - Jon Fuller
Killing Wind   - Mathias Russ
L-Geimour      - Mark Chase
Gallant        - Mark Chase
Moray          - Mark Chase

(all mecha were constructed under
the Mekton Zeta© RPG system, by
R. Talsorian Games, Inc)