by Rick Graham
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Alright everyone, we have a lot of work ahead of us. I want the techs to work through the night while the pilots and other warriors, excluding those on patrol duty, to assist the repairs as they are able to until 2400, then they need to get some rest. We are rolling out at 0500.”
The command staff broke up and headed to brief their respective teams. As Caine exited the tent a breeze blew in and gave Tyonek a chill. Feeling like he was being watched, he turned around to see a cloaked woman approach him. The cloak was white with gold trim and seemed flow weightlessly around the woman.
No one except for Joah seemed to notice the woman as they went about their tasks. Her head was bowed as she walked which kept her face hidden. She stopped a few steps away from the Commander and gracefully uncovered her face.
Tyonek’s eyes grew wide. “Mother?”
“Hello, my son” Yoola Tyonek said with a kind yet ethereal smile on her face.
“What are you doing here?” Joah asked, his face mixed between surprise and a little anger.
“I came to deliver a message to you. Several rotations ago I experienced a vision from the stars.”
The Commander’s left eyebrow arched. “You mean you had some bizarre dream you call a prophecy?”
“Your blasphemous remarks will not change the truth.”
Joah couldn’t help himself but smile at the humor of conversation. “Mother, I haven’t seen you in what…three, four cycles? Ever since you joined that crazy religion you have not been the same.”
“It is true, I am different since I converted to the way of the truth. When your father was taken from us all those cycles ago I was left empty. I sought answers to why such tragic events happened to me. I now understand though that it was the universe and the orchestration of the cosmos. I had wished for you to discover the same peace.”
Tyonek’s face turned red. “Don’t try and explain my dad’s death to be some grand design by the stars. I have read the ancient scrolls of the Starists and there are no answers for me in them. Your visions will not guide my life any longer.”
Yoola began to slowly walk around Joah as she spoke. “I remember a time when you used to join me in the temple and would listen to my visions with the sparkle of the very stars themselves in your eyes.”
“That was a long time ago.”
“I have been given a gift by the stars to be one of their messengers. This battle with the Corre Republic will be over soon, but only to make way for an even larger war. A dark cloud will spread from the planet of Revelation and will consume all of humanity and her worlds.”
Joah pursed his lips, but did not respond.
Yoolah stopped walking. “Do you wish to know the fate of your next battle?”
“I figure you wouldn’t have made the journey all the way from the temple if you weren’t going to tell me.”
The Priestess closed her eyes and folded her hands together. “Your next battle will be great, and you will succeed in your mission. Your reinforcements will land on Sanctuary.”
She opened her eyes and looked right at Joah. “However, you will die in a barrage of fire and explosions.”
Slowly Yoolah raised her arms and eyes as giving praise to a heavenly being. “Your death will inspire your people to achieve what many consider impossible, the retaking of Destin. From here many will sing of your praises and you will be remembered as a glorious hero of this world.”
Joah tried to not show his disgust for the vision and his supposed destiny. “I will not die here.”
“You will” she said softly as she lowered her arms.
“Why did you come here mother? To tell me my fate?”
Yoolah gracefully walked over to her son and placed her hands on his shoulders. Joah remained motionless but kept his eyes locked with his mother. She leaned in and whispered, “No, my son…I came here to say goodbye.”
The Priestess gave her son a slow kiss on the cheek and then placed her arms by her sides.
Joah’s mind raced with thoughts as he looked to the ground. Then his eyes were filled with fire. “The stars will not determine my fate. Not as long as I have breath in my lungs.”
Yoolah smiled at her son. “Always the fighter. I wish it were so. Goodbye Joah.” The priestess turned and left the tent.
Joah continued to process his mixed emotions while he stared at the ground. He remained motionless for several more heartbeats before his feet lead him out of the command tent and towards the WarMech refit station.
When he reached his Defender, which he had long ago dubbed Sara, he looked up to see a tech was busy replacing armor on her left shoulder.
Unlike the standard Defender design which stood just short of three- stories tall, Joah took advantage of his position and made some modifications. The standard shields mounted to both arms which were much flatter and were curved at the edges so that the shields could meet together essentially creating a ramming point. However, Joah’s Defender had shields that were boxier in shape and ended with three cone shaped spikes. The sheer force a Defender could put out in a punch was damaging enough, he felt the spikes just helped emphasize the devastation he was after if he found himself locked in melee combat.
The other main modification he made was that he replaced the original engine with an experimental one he came across from a research scientist on the planet Hope. This engine was lighter in weight yet granted a higher output of energy to the WarMech. Being lighter allowed the Commander to place more armor on his Defender.
Tyonek couldn’t help but feel his spirit lift even just a little as he fazed on his mighty WarMech. The two had survived many battles together.
“Is this it for us Sara?” he whispered. Feeling the weight of despair on his shoulders Joah lowered his head. His right hand shook for a brief moment, and then he clenched it into a fist.
“I don’t have time for this!” he shouted in his mind. “My people need me to focus and to lead them.”
Looking over to his left stood a metal crate. On top of it sat a clipboard with the readout on Sara. He walked over to retrieve it and instantly began studying it looking at the list of repairs his Defender needed. Some he knew they didn’t have the parts for, some tasks he wasn’t qualified to handle. He chose the first one he could manage on his own and made his way to the toolbox by Sara’s right foot.
“I’m not giving in to my fate just yet.”
Knowing he would be unable to get any sleep, commander Tyonek had ignored his own orders and elected to work through the night on repairs to his WarMech.
At about 0130 sergeant Goddard had come over to assist Joah as he struggled to work on Sara’s left foot actuator. Several more hours passed and now it was time to head out.
The slight frost that had settled in the middle of the night was beginning to evaporate as the light of the next day lit the ground. Commander Tyonek climbed up the ladder of his WarMech and settled in the cockpit. He pressed a switch on the right side that retracted the ladder and closed him inside. There was a slight squeal in the air as the cockpit pressurized and sealed tight.
Most WarMech designs could be operated without the pilot wearing a Sim helmet, however, it would only enable them to have the standard limited view while controlling the machine. Wearing the specialized helmet allowed the pilot to switch to a variety of different perspectives while in combat. The most popular was that the Sim helmet would connect to the multiple cameras that were located across the WarMech’s outer hull allowing the pilot to see around them as if they weren’t inside a cockpit. The different perspectives could be toggled through by the pilot as they desired enabling them to go back and forth depending on the need of the situation.
As Joah connected the three cables to the back of his helmet the system pulled up his preferences allowing him to see the first-person perspective of Sara while also having vital system readouts in his simulated view.
“Welcome back Commander” Sara said with her synthesized voice.
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“Sara, display the readout scroll.”
“Yes Commander.”
Green text began to scroll down his view giving him a rundown of the operational readiness of his WarMech.
Armor – 87%
Weapons – Ready
Engine – Ready
Communications – Ready
Connection with network – Ready
“You are cleared for deployment Commander. Good hunting” one of the communication techs in the command tent said.
Joah keyed his mic to contact the infantry officer. “Captain Ryder, signal when you are in position.”
A green blip on his HUD signaled Ryder acknowledged the order.
Thoughts of the conversation with his mother entered his mind. “Your death will inspire your people to achieve what many consider impossible…”
He shook his head. “No, I will not die here. Not today.”
Gripping the control sticks for Sara he gently pressed on the forward movement peddle located by his right foot.
Sara stood up from her hunched position and began heading for the tree line. The other functioning WarMechs also stood up and began to follow their commander into their next dangerous mission.
The next hour thankfully was uneventful. Joah half expected the Republic troops to have all sorts of scouts patrolling the area. “Maybe they thought we wouldn’t come back after how the last battle went” Joah mused to himself.
On his HUD Tyonek could see where all of his forces were located. Up ahead in the hills he could see several large blue inverted triangles signaling the location of the infantry squads that had deployed ahead of the rest of the U.S. forces. The center triangle flashed twice.
“Alright people, here we go. Blue Two form up on me. Green One lead the right side. Yellow One I want you to stay back some and provide cover support to the left flank.” Joah ordered.
Leo Pollsen in his Defender moved up alongside the Commander with the rest of blue team forming up behind. Six T5 – Main Battle Tanks split into two groups on either side.
Jessika slowed her speed allowing her team’s Defender to lead the way.
Lieutenant Caine and Hondo’s Aegis’ slowed their speed and readied themselves for giving long range support to the advancing forces.
Joah turned to his right and saw Pollsen’s Defender keeping speed with him. “Blue Two, we are going to punch a hole straight through the enemy line so the T5s can do their job.”
“Roger that Blue One” Pollsen said.
Looking up ahead Joah could see the plumes of smoke still billowing from fires burning from the previous battle. He zoomed in to an intersection and could see a team of Sierra WarMechs moving out into the hills.
“Contact. Yellow One, their all yours” the Commander said as he raised the shields of his Defender preparing for enemy fire.
Caine and Hondo fired a salvo from their Quad Missile Launchers. Two missiles raced ahead over the advancing Union troops. One missed its mark and blew out the first floor of a business structure, while the other impacted a Sierra in the right leg which blasted it off. The WarMech tumbled to the ground landing on top of a parked hovercar crushing it instantly.
“More contacts” Jessika said over the command communication channel.
Another team of Sierras moved out of the city to the right and immediately sprinted forward to close the distance before the Aegis’ could fire towards them. They combined fire on Green Three’s Goblin, blasting it to pieces from the cannon fire.
Sara’s synthetic voice cut in the combat to report. “Green Three, disabled.”
One of the Sierras on the left took a shot with its 14D Cannon at Joah. The shot went wide over his shoulder and obliterated a group of trees behind him. Joah targeted the enemy Sierra with his plasma slingers and opened fire. Several high-speed blue plasma globs made contact with the enemy WarMech burning into the Sierra’s armor on its chest and left arm. Another Sierra moved up to attack but was targeted by Pollsen. It turned its attention to the other advancing Defender and fired a burst from its cannon. The rounds pounded Pollsen’s arm shields but did not penetrate his armor.
“T5s, now!” Joah ordered as he fired another salvo of plasma at his target.
The two groups of tanks moved in unison and fired their cannons. Pollsen grinned as he watched the Sierra gunning for him get hit with three tank rounds sending the left arm flying away. It targeted the lead T5 on the right and fired a burst of its cannon. Two of the three shots dug deep into the friendly tank creating an explosion from within that blasted the turret in the air.
Pollsen and Joah continued to charge forward as the enemy Sierra’s attempted to take advantage of the limited cover they had. One of which fired a burst at one of the T5s in the left group with only one round actually hitting a tank. The round did little more than rattle the crew inside as it rolled forward.
Joah fired another series of plasma globs at the same Sierra from earlier melting its right arm cannon and destroying its left knee. It tipped over on its face, causing further damage to its torso.
Several small targets became illuminated on the Commander’s HUD. “We got drones exiting the city.”
Just then, two more teams of Sierras exited the city one on each side, along with multiple group of Gordon attack tanks and infantry squads.
“Multiple contacts” Jessika said.
Joah didn’t like the sound of her voice. She was not keeping it together well. “Alright everyone, we have to draw them into the center. Green Team head further to the right, Blue Team further to the left. Yellow One we need some cover fire.”
Caine and Hondo fired another salvo. One missile destroyed a Gordon tank while another decimated a team of Republic marines as they were advancing towards a group of ruins for cover.
Blue Team’s T5s broke off and swung to the left. Joah dodged another attack from a Sierra. The enemy WarMech fired again. This time two of the three rounds gouged into his left shield. Fighting the shock from the attack Tyonek managed to keep his Defender from falling.
Pollsen took a volley of small missile fire from a Gordon to his right. He twisted his WarMech’s torso and fired a succession of plasma globs. The tank’s armor had already been damaged on its side and couldn’t take the incoming fire. It came to a halt with smoke spewing from the melted holes left by the plasma as it cooled.
“Blue Two, get back in formation” Joah said as he watched an enemy drone tag him with a red laser.
Pollsen had just begun to turn towards the rest of Blue Team when it was engulfed by two explosions.
Joah cursed under his breath. “I need snipers to take out those damned drones!”
Drones utilized by the Arbalests were incredibly fast and had a good range to their tag, but with the higher speed came a sacrifice in armor. Within seconds of the given order, the drone that tagged Pollsen was shot down. It careened into a tree and shattered.
As the smoke cleared from the attack on Blue Two, Joah could see the results of the devastating hits. Pollsen’s Defender had its left shield destroyed, along with its left foot.
The warrant officer lowered his Defender into a squatting position and moved his right shield to block the cockpit as best it could. He began to fire his plasma slingers at the Republic troops as they advanced.
“Blue Two, form up.”
“No can-do Commander. Foot is gone. I’ll never make it far. I will hold them here as long as I can.”
Tyonek cursed again and turned back to provide cover fire for Pollsen.
Caine fired a series of shots from his long-range plasma belcher which hammered one of the advancing Sierra’s.
Two Gordons opened up with their missiles again covering Pollsen in multiple explosions. His right plasma slinger was destroyed in the attack. He continued to fire with his remaining weapon coring one of the Gordons in return.
As the Republic pushed forward they took the bait and moved into the center of the battlefield. Several teams of Union riflemen popped up f
rom cover and tossed their anti-mech grenades at the feet of multiple Sierras. The grenades detonated and shredded the feet armor causing three of the enemy WarMechs to topple to the ground. They received a shower of laser bolts for their trouble while the infantry charged forward. Four squads of Armos power armor dashed forward into the fray firing away.
Several more hits dug into Pollsen’s remaining shield. A Sierra WarMech had used its jump thrusters to launch itself into the air and landed not far behind Pollsen. It twisted around and aimed.
“Raaaah!” Joah’s Defender punched with its left shield crushing the Sierra’s head. It staggered trying to remain upright but Joah punched with his right shield skewering the enemy WarMech in its right elbow, crippling the lower part of the arm from the impact with the spikes on Joah’s shield. Tyonek opened fire with his plasma weapons destroying what remained of the Sierra as it dropped into a heap on the battlefield.
Just as Joah began to charge into the Republic’s front-line Jessika’s voice shrieked in his ears, “Aaaaah…” Green One had been tagged by another drone before she was bombarded by fire from the hiding Arbalests.
“Green One, disabled” Sara said as a matter of fact.
“If we don’t target those drones we won’t last long. Green Two, take them down!”
The two remaining Goblin WarMechs of Green Team coordinated their fire and blasted the pair of drones with their cannons.
Another round of missiles from Yellow Team scored hits against the Republic as another Gordon exploded and destroying a right arm of one of the advancing Sierras.
Joah surveyed the battlefield for a split second before continuing to charge forward. “T5s, swing wide and push the left side. Infantry, charge forward. Green Team, move in, we need to provide cover for the infantry so they can get close enough to the front.”
Lieutenant Caine spoke on the command channel. “Incoming aircraft.”
Joah stopped to turn back and watch as Hondo was destroyed by the tactical airstrike. Missiles exploded all around his WarMech as it fell to the right. Caine took a direct hit to his Quad Launcher sending bits of it raining all around. As the aircraft flew past, Yellow One targeted one with his plasma belcher and fired. The large blue globs were too slow and completely missed.