Mecha Samurai Empire (A United States of Japan Novel)

by Peter Tieryas

  “Chieko!” we all yell, as her display temporarily cuts out.

  But it’s only a second before Chieko is back. “I’m fine.”

  “How bad is the damage?” Nori asks.

  Chieko checks her sensor reports. “Could be worse. This armor is tough.” She gets her mecha to its feet. “I’m using the self-repair module to do automatic diagnostics and fix any issues it detects.”

  “Good,” Kazu says. “I looped into the security cameras, and it looks like there’s a Scorpion-class mecha in the hangar next to us. This should be our priority as it can cause the most damage.”

  Nori chimes in, “The Scorpion class has scale armor and a tail with a prototype laser blade. We need to dismantle that tail first.”

  “How do we do that?” Chieko asks.

  “Chop it off,” Kujira says.

  “Oh, very clever,” Chieko mutters.

  We enter the adjacent hangar. I’ve never been to this area, but it’s as large as the previous one. The Scorpion is actually bipedal, though it has a massive tail behind it. It’s bulkier than a standard mecha and slightly hunched. It wields two scimitars, and there are cannons in its shoulder plates. The face mask has sharp, fanglike protrusions covering it. The defunct bodies of four security mechas are on the ground, sliced up. Multiple human corpses lie next to them, having died doing their best to protect the base. I feel sickened by the idea that someone betrayed us. I stare at the Scorpion, furious with the pilot. What the hell are they thinking, supporting the Nazis against the Empire? Even death wouldn’t be a sufficient punishment.

  “The tail has ninety-six jointed segments with a stinger at the end that has the laser blade,” Nori informs us. “It’s fast. I don’t know maximum speed, but it’s designed as an antimecha machine.”

  “Fire the M87s,” Kazu orders.

  We’re about to take out our guns when the Scorpion sprints at us. The tail punctures Chieko’s gun, leaving it dysfunctional. Kujira tries to swing his sword, but the tail evades. I can’t get a clear shot without hitting one of the others because it’s moving so fast. Nori gets a few shots in, but the shells bounce off the thick armor.

  Kujira tries to chop off the tail, but it hits him in the flank, causing his mecha to crash into the wall. Kujira does get a swipe in, but the sword isn’t able to penetrate. Chieko and I strike, but the tail whips at my sword, knocking it out of my hand. Chieko clutches the tail, but it releases an electrical volt that causes her to momentarily lose control of her mecha. She capsizes. The tail goes up and is about to strike her. But Kazu flings out his yo-yo, causing a big spark. Nori thrusts her spear into the tail, forcing it back. The Scorpion tries to attack again, but Kazu deflects it. A series of rapid attacks are countered between the two as the lasers seem like light trails against the magnetic blades of Kazu’s yo-yo. I can’t figure out how the yo-yo isn’t getting sliced up, until I realize Kazu is timing it so that his blade actually hits the stinger before the laser blade can connect. I pick up my sword again and scan for any possible weaknesses. Nothing is exposed, and the only thing holding it at bay is Kazu. Nori and Chieko try to attack, but the Scorpion’s scimitars act as claws to block them.

  I see Kujira getting back to his feet, dislodging himself from the wall.

  “What’s your status?” Nori asks him.

  “Annoyed,” Kujira replies.

  “I have a plan. Chieko, when you have an opening, I want you to grab its tail again.”

  “It’ll just shock me again,” Chieko points out.

  “Yes, but it requires a power surge at its stinger to do it. Use the grappler on your arm and hold on.”

  “Why?”

  “If we can drain it of enough power, it might be vulnerable to an attack,” Nori explains. “Kujira, Mac. You ready for an X-attack?”

  “Sure,” I answer.

  “When I give the signal, X-attack its tail.”

  “Will that work?” I ask.

  “I believe so.”

  “You kids have the plan down?” Kazu asks.

  “We do.”

  “Good.”

  Kazu launches a quick flurry of yo-yo attacks that the Scorpion blocks. As it does, Chieko vaults at its tail, grabbing it with both arms. She fires the grapplers onto one of the segments, latching herself on. As predicted, the volts begin. Normally, this would cause her mecha to automatically retract. But with the grapplers tying them together, the volts continue.

  “What is your condition, Chieko?” Nori asks.

  “I’m insulated, but I don’t have control over my arms.”

  “Can you release the grappler?”

  “I can. Do you want me to?”

  “Not yet.” The electrical charge begins to weaken until the scorpion’s tail goes limp. That’s when Nori orders, “Now.”

  Chieko detaches, and her mecha, which she no longer has control over, drops straight into the ground.

  “Mac, Kujira!” Nori yells.

  We plan our trajectories and run in a cross pattern, striking simultaneously and slashing it diagonally. The timing is perfect, and the tail is cut in half.

  Nori uses a spear straight to the Scorpion’s neck, while Kazu’s yo-yo knocks the scimitars out of its hands. The Scorpion loses all power and comes to a standstill.

  “Nicely done!” Kazu exclaims.

  “How’d you know that’d work?” I ask Nori.

  “There were power-generation issues with the tail, which is why it’s still in the prototype phase,” Nori replies. “Chieko, what is your condition?”

  “I still don’t have any control.”

  “I’m going to try to track down the chief engineer and see if he can get you up and running,” Nori says.

  “Now let’s see who’s driving this thing,” Kazu says, and motions Kujira to do the honors of ripping off the bridge panel.

  “Watch out in case it self-destructs,” Chieko reminds him.

  “Got a fist ready in case they try any funny business,” Kujira answers.

  But when Kujira tears it off, there’s no one inside.

  “What the hell?” Kujira asks. “There’s a ghost in the machine?”

  “It must be remotely controlled,” Nori says. “Which might be a good thing.”

  “Why?”

  “If we can track down the source, we could take out a whole lot of rogue mechas without having to fight all of them.”

  “Can you find the source?” Kazu asks.

  “I’m trying right now,” Nori replies, anticipating his question.

  Kujira gets up and lifts the sundered tail. “Can I ask for a tail upgrade? I want that laser tail,” he says, chewing on food.

  “Are you eating something?” Chieko asks, as we watch him bite a piece of something.

  “Turkey dogs,” he says, holding one up.

  “How did you get turkey dogs?”

  “I installed a minifridge in back,” he says, scrumptiously biting his meat.

  “You what?”

  “Mute your communicator,” Kazu orders. “You’re making my ears hurt.”

  “Yes, sir!” Kujira shouts, taking a few more loud chomps before muting.

  We stand there, waiting for Nori’s search.

  “If someone could take over any of the mechas, why didn’t they take over the Leviathans?” I ask.

  “Remote control hasn’t been established on them yet,” Kazu replies. “Most of the prototypes on the base don’t get far enough to have those controls installed, but since Scorpions are antimecha units, remote controls are essential to their functionality. Normally, even when they have remote leashes, it’s hard to break in because each one has a pair of distinct codes and an override.”

  “That means whoever did this has to be high enough up the food chain to know the codes,” Chieko assumes.

  “And be a
decent pilot. Not just anyone can drive a mecha remotely.”

  Kujira unmutes, and asks, “Do any of you know why they call them hot dogs when there’s no dog meat in them?”

  I have no idea. Chieko shrugs. Kazu looks baffled not just by the answer to the question, but by the fact that Kujira asked it at this moment in time. Nori says, “According to this signal trace I put out, the source of the control is very close by.”

  “Kujira. You stay and guard Chieko. Nori, Mac, let’s hunt this traitor down.”

  Nori tells Chieko she got hold of Chief Engineer Nobusue, and he’ll arrive soon. We switch to tread mode again and accelerate to a nearby corridor.

  When we get closer to the source of the remote controls, there are two stalwart Hornet-class mechas in our path. They’re similar to the Korosus though not as powerful. They’re primarily designed for urban warfare by local police for pacification purposes, designed to intimidate and disarm foes. When the Hornets spot us, they raise their batons.

  “Let me handle this,” Kazu says.

  He runs at them, swinging a yo-yo in both hands. One tries to hit him with the baton, but Kazu wraps his yo-yo around its arm, then tugs, ripping its hand off. He ducks under the attack of the other, then gives him a backward kick. The momentum of the motion plus the kick causes the Hornet to stumble forward. Before it can turn around, Kazu lashes his yo-yo out so that it wraps around its neck. He tugs hard, causing the head to come straight off.

  The handless Hornet gets up and tries to run.

  “Nori?” Kazu calls for aid.

  Nori prepares her spear and launches it. It impales the Hornet in the back, causing it to fall to the ground.

  “Let’s find out who the queen bee is,” Kazu says.

  The corridor branches off into several hallways that have research labs in them. The one we’re going to is 239T. The doors are only big enough for humans. Sensors indicate there are two people inside the lab. One’s identification comes up as Dr. Shimitsu, which explains why she’d gone missing. The other is unknown.

  “Dr. Shimitsu?” Nori contacts her. But there’s no reply. “Switching to thermal view.”

  “It looks like she’s being held hostage,” I note, as the person behind her is carrying a gun.

  “I think you’re right,” Nori confirms.

  “You got this?” Kazu asks her.

  “I got it.”

  “Got what?” I ask.

  “Watch,” Kazu says.

  Nori lowers her mecha, balances one arm against the wall, then uses the other to punch straight through. The wall shatters like glass. I check my thermal view. The fist goes straight through and smashes the unidentified person while leaving Dr. Shimitsu intact. I’m amazed she could make so precise an attack.

  “Dr. Shimitsu. Are you there?” Nori calls again. “Dr. Shimitsu?”

  In the thermal view, she is moving. “Is her communicator broken?” I conjecture. “Maybe one of us needs to go down there?”

  “Nori,” Kazu says. “What’s the status of the rogue mechas?”

  Nori checks, and replies, “They’ve all been deactivated.”

  Right then, Dr. Shimitsu shows up on the internal communicator. She’s in tears.

  “My family . . . My family is dead now,” she says.

  “What happened to your family?” I ask.

  “They—they took my family hostage three days ago.”

  “That’s why you were helping them?” Nori demands.

  Dr. Shimitsu appears to be in a daze. “They told me the moment they lose contact with me, they’ll kill my husband and my son.”

  “I’m very sorry to hear that,” Kazu says. “Truly. Do you know where your family is?”

  “I don’t.”

  “I have friends in the police I’ll ask to go investigate ASAP. Maybe it’s not too late.”

  “Do you think so?”

  “It’s possible. I’ll make some calls. But I need to know, what was their objective?”

  “Their objective? Their objective was to . . . was to destroy all of Mechtown. But, most important, to destroy the biomech we have.”

  “Why the biomech?” Kazu asks.

  “That’s what we based all our research on,” Dr. Shimitsu replies. “You—you need to get to the surface, fast.”

  “Why?”

  “The real attack is coming soon,” she informs us.

  “What real attack?”

  “They’re sending a group of their biomechs to wreak terror on the city.”

  “There’s no way they could get here,” Kazu says.

  “There is,” I say, and tell them about the Longinus Strike.

  “He’s right,” Dr. Shimitsu adds. “We’ve been tracking their transport planes for the past hour.”

  “Do you have those sensor readings?” Nori asks.

  Dr. Shimitsu relays the sensor scans.

  “Nori?” Kazu checks.

  Nori takes a few moments to confirm. “There are four of them, and they’ll be here soon. An hour, tops.”

  One hour? And not just one of them, but multiple biomechs. With much of Mechtown in disarray, the destruction they’d wreak on the Bay Area would be catastrophic.

  “What about my family?” Dr. Shimitsu asks.

  “Your family?” I shout. “What about the whole city? You’ve put everyone here at risk!”

  “I’m trying to reach my friends right now,” Kazu calmly says.

  “But—”

  He cuts off the communicator, and the doctor’s visual disappears.

  “You going to help her?” Nori asks.

  “I’ll do my best,” Kazu says. “But even if they’re alive and can be rescued, Dr. Shimitsu will be punished as a traitor. That means her family will probably face death sentences too in order to set an example.”

  “They would do that?” I ask, shocked by the implications.

  “They might,” Kazu says. “I wonder what I would have done in her shoes if my wife and daughters were threatened.”

  “You would have found another way,” Nori says.

  “Maybe,” he replies. “Can you chart out what you think they’re planning, so we can notify Berkeley Command?”

  His communicator goes mute as he calls someone else.

  I think about my last fight with the biomech, and the idea of fighting more of them scares the hell out of me. Even with the Leviathans, we don’t know how we’ll fare against the biomechs.

  Nori calls Chieko and asks, “What’s your status?”

  Chieko and Kujira appear on my display. “Nobusue-san is swapping out my hands and has fixed a bunch of circuitry that was destroyed.”

  “How much time will you need?”

  “He says one hour.”

  “Tell him he has fifteen minutes.”

  Kazu unmutes and asks Nori, “Are you able to access external communications?”

  “I haven’t tried.”

  “I can’t call outside,” Kazu says.

  Nori tries calling a few different places. So do I. “The only places I can contact are those on Mechtown’s internal system.”

  “Then all communications are blocked outside,” Kazu states.

  “That’d be a safe assumption,” Nori affirms.

  “That means we can’t call for help,” I say, confirming the obvious. “They might have no idea what’s going on down here.”

  “Have Chieko and Kujira meet us at the Treasure Island Emergency Exit when they’re ready.”

  “What should we do about the doctor?” Nori asks.

  Kazu replies, “Leave her to me.”

  * * *

  • • •

  We reach the emergency platform. Chieko has brought M87s as well as replacement weapons for us to wield. I grab a new sword and a wakizashi blade. Chieko i
s wielding her chain whip. Kujira picks up an electric sword, while Nori sharpens her spear. Kazu has his yo-yos. We each put the shields on our backs. The platform elevator can only take one mecha up at a time. Kazu hooks his Leviathan first, locking in his spinal clamps and bootstraps.

  “Where does this go?” Chieko asks.

  “Underneath the Bay Bridge,” Nori replies.

  There’s something I have to say to them. “Before you all go, I have to remind you, we’re in prototype mechas. These aren’t battle-tested, and there are going to be biomechs up there. I’ve seen one in action. It’s nothing like the sims. It single-handedly destroyed three Sentry mechas. There’s a high probability we’ll be killed. Even if you were soldiers, a wasteful death is a stupid one. We’re cadets. I know it doesn’t look like there’s much up there to defend against them, at least not yet. But I want you all to know what it’s gonna be like.”

  “He’s right,” Chieko chimes in. “The biomech is horrifying. I don’t care because I’m ready to die. But you all should be prepared.”

  “Thanks for the spirit lifter,” Kujira says. “Are you two going to go?”

  “Of course,” Chieko answers.

  They look to me. I take longer to reply. Am I ready to die? That’s a dumb question, isn’t it? Who’s ever ready to die? But am I willing to risk death if I fail? “Yes.”

  “I think most of us know of soldiers having their lives thrown away because a stupid officer charged in without thinking or consulting those under their command,” Kazu says. “I became an officer because I wanted to make sure I would never have to follow or issue terrible orders again. Let’s take a vote. We’re the Five Tigers. Unanimous decision to go or not. Who’s in?”

  “Do you even need to ask?” Kujira snaps.

  “I’m ready to kick some Nazi ass,” Nori answers, with a rage that goes beyond the moment.

  “You know my answer,” Chieko says, and I can hear the conviction of all the RAMs behind her.

  “Same here,” I say.

  “Then it’s unanimous. Let’s go,” Kazu states.

  * * *

  • • •

  From its initial creation as an artificial island in the middle of the bay, the Empire has greatly expanded the size and scope of Treasure Island. There is a full naval base, which is often used in collaboration with the mecha base in San Francisco for joint exercises. Its accessibility to both San Francisco and Berkeley has made it integral to the area’s defensive forces. We don’t know if the biomechs will target the East Bay, the West Bay, or both. This puts us right in between. As soon as I ascend, I move away from the laun-chpad so that Chieko can come up next. We’re on an airfield to the west side of the island, and there are jets parked below us. There are eight buildings nearby, and I’m detecting people in them. We’re close to the Bay Bridge, and there’s reconnaissance equipment, though none of it seems to be working. The water is choppy from all the wind, but there are still western gulls casually cruising along. There isn’t a beach; instead, a small, rocky shore separates the island coast from the water.