Starkindler (MechaVerse Series Book 1)

by Jeremy Cunkle

  As one, they tried to interject at the same time but he held his hand up for silence. “You all know what happened that day. I froze in cowardice while they were murdered in front of me, and that undeniable fact still haunts me. I have to do this. I have to wage war against the enemy I was unaware of until that day, or I will never be free of my demons. If I go I will do it right, fully prepared to do battle with Mars Industries and its proxy government. I will not squander my life uselessly, I promise you. With the resources available to us, it seems reasonable to pursue the sky suits and turn them into next generation Mech armor.”

  Vera shot him a look similar to that of a mother scolding her son. “You prove yourself to us every day by pulling your own weight, Mikkhael; you cannot forfeit everything here just because your emotions are overriding your common sense!”

  He stood and began pacing while speaking animatedly, his nervousness no longer allowing him to sit. “See, that is exactly the point, though, emotions. At first, yes, it was an emotional response when I vowed to make those bastards pay. But I look around at the resources we have to make this idea work and the potential of Mech armor falling in our laps, and I see an opportunity to right a wrong that just makes sense for so many reasons. I’ve been looking for a way to fight back for years, and now here is a way to fulfill that vision, a vision of righting the grave injustice done to all of us, not to mention the billions who are enslaved on Mars.”

  “It’s not our fight Mikkhael! There is no need for you to go!” Vera screamed at him. Terror showed in the whites of her eyes, she had clearly made the plausible leap that if he left to go fight, he would never return.

  He stopped pacing and faced her, his resistance gone. Begging for her understanding he whispered, “Who has more right to fight than anyone in this room? Why is it not our fight? I refuse to believe that all of this could have happened and we were just supposed to let this opportunity pass us by. People rarely get a chance to do something great in their life, and as far as I know, they never get a second chance. This, right here and right now is my chance to give meaning to my life, but also to bring redemption.” He searched her face for her reaction, pleading for her to understand.

  His support came from an unlikely source. With sudden inspiration, Alyona turned to Kurtis. “Kurtis, before we get all worked up and set out on this path, tell me what your suspicions are. I can tell you have a firm idea of what we are going to find inside Alice Springs, and before we go all in I want everyone to know what we are committing to. Do not give me some vague answer. Are we or are we not going to find the capabilities to make advanced Mech armor on that base?”

  Kurtis shifted nervously, not enjoying the sudden change of direction as everyone stared at him again, but there was nothing he could do. He had let the proverbial genie out of the bottle and it was now running the show. He started to sputter but Alyona cracked a “Kurt!” and the last of his now feeble resistance broke. “I know as close to one hundred percent as you can get without physically getting a hold of what’s on the base, that there will be designs and materials to build advanced Mech armor the likes of which has never been seen before. The evidence is very clear that they spent decades researching and designing an absolute myriad of possibilities.”

  The room dissolved into chaos as people shouted to make their arguments heard. The chaos of arguing among one another continued for several minutes until Vera let loose with a “Shut up!” that slapped them back to their senses. She looked at Mikkhael with rage and frustration still very present in her tense posture. She bit her lips, closing her eyes for a moment to focus before unleashing her judgement in the calm tones mortally offended women use when speaking to men. “I refuse to let you go for the reasons you have stated so far, let me go collect my thoughts and I’ll call you when I’m ready to talk in private, until that time this meeting is over. Return to your posts and resume your duties immediately.”

  Ashamed, the small group, closer than any friends or family, nodded in acknowledgement that she was right, too embarrassed to defy her directly, and walked out of the room slowly still digesting everything they had learned. Mikkhael looked at Kurtis as he rose to leave and said, “Nothing happens until that computer is made anyways so there is likely no rush to get it done. Take your time, do it right, and let us know if you need help. Otherwise, I think it would be best not to give us an update until you are done, that will let everyone decide how they feel by the time you are finished. And until then, give Vera a wide berth without seeming like you’re intentionally avoiding her.”

  “I understand.” Kurtis said, grinning sheepishly. They both knew everyone had come to defer to Mikkhael’s judgment when making decisions that affected them all, but on anything that would be considered domestic in any other group of close knit people, Vera was the queen and brooked no defiance. He turned and waved silently behind him as he headed back to his personal quarters to figure out what to do next.

  Mikkhael paced restlessly alone in the room where he had for the first time directly acknowledged to the world the existence of the demons that plagued him. He examined the room’s exits and picked one at random that led him to the opposite wing of the giant airship. This particular wing held the pathway and the garden that replenished their oxygen as well as supplementing their stocks with fresh food. It was the only part of their small world the group could retreat to in order to experience a real sense of nature, and the change of scenery was a poignant reminder of just how much each of them had lost in the last five years. In the center of the garden was a ten-foot tall multi-level fountain, several small streams of desalinated water cascaded down in order to feed a small bubbling brook that ran throughout the garden. The small brook served the dual purpose of a decorative irrigation system. Its construction had been costly and immensely time consuming, but they all believed the effort was worthwhile. The solitude and serenity of the peaceful retreat washed over him with meditative calm.

  Pensively, he looked around to make sure no one else had headed to the fountain before him. He was still too fragile to confront anyone else just yet, much as he suspected the other members were. The immediate area was clear, so he sat on a wrought iron bench that had cost a small fortune to have made, sighing deeply while taking in the sights and sounds around him. The peace that accompanied the area settled over him like a favorite blanket.

  An unknown amount of time passed, after which Mikkhael woke groggily, moving his neck slowly in a circle to stretch out. He was not sure how long he had been asleep, but his back and neck were stiff so he knew it must have been for some time. Realizing the danger of waiting too long, and anxiously awaiting the inevitable confrontation with Vera, he knelt next to the crystal clear brook, listening to the low gurgle a minute before washing his face, toweling off as best he could with his sleeves. The bracing chill of the water woke him up.

  Once he was sure that he was as alert as his present situation would allow, he headed toward Vera’s quarters. At the door to her quarters, he hit the buzzer, knowing that the embedded camera facing him displayed his face on a small monitor set just inside the door that quickly opened. The pneumatic hiss as he entered her quarters helped stall immediate conversation, which turned into an extended silence. They were in her living area, a thickly carpeted wide-open room holding a pair of couches and a recliner were about the only furniture. The outside wall could be converted into a projection screen or become translucent and serve as an enormous window, or as it was currently it could simple serve as a plainly adorned wall. Her bedroom and extra room she used as an office were off to the side. Vera stood across from him, with her arms crossed, hair and uniform disheveled but alert. It was immediately clear that she was angry with him for waiting too long to approach her even though she had said she would call him.

  He simply stood just inside the doorway, waiting for her to initiate, knowing that regardless of which route he picked, he would be wrong. He was here more for her to vent her anger and frustration at his probable death wish
, nothing else, and speaking would only serve to give her more ammunition and further upset her. The silence between them was not uncomfortable. They were both long used to each other’s quiet company. With a start, she cleared her throat before walking over to a small, hidden bar at the far end of the room, pouring them both unbidden drinks out of habit. After she handed the shallow amount of liquor to him, together, they walked to the outside wall which sensed their approach and became translucent, looking out at the hazy clouds blanketing the world underneath the airship, slowly sipping the burning liquid.

  She looked across at him finally; and then back to the window. “How much have you thought it all through?”

  He walked back to the bar to refill his empty glass, the motion drawing her attention. “A lot, honestly. No bastard enters a war with the intention of dying. That’s the other side’s job. I have every intention of minimizing the risks as much I can. I’ve watched from the sidelines intently for years, the reason why I have not joined yet was there’s still too much chance involved. I see an advanced Mech armor balancing a lot of the survival equation though in my favor, don’t you?”

  Pointedly ignoring him, she stared resolutely out the window. “And your goal? At what point would you consider yourself to have achieved victory and be able to return home?”

  This time it was his turn to look away from her, speaking slowly, taking extra care to enunciating his words clearly. “Once the Special Service agents are dead I might consider that a victory. I have kept track of them all. They have joined a special-forces team that answers only to the President of Mars Industries, entirely independent of any accountability the same as when they were here on Earth. The atrocities they commit on Mars as the President’s pets easily surpass those committed here on Earth. Everything they did and do is sanctioned by him or his direct underlings. Killing them would avenge the deaths of our parents and loved ones, but it would not end the war taking place, or end the enslavement of billions of people in the Martian colony. That’s where I lose focus. That bastard needs to die, or others will simply take his place, and then nothing has really changed.”

  The last sentence was muttered under his breath, but Vera managed to understand him. “So,” she summed up bitingly, “the first step is to wipe out a Special-Forces team made up of veteran soldiers piloting their own advanced Mech armor, and then providing you survive that, assassinate the President of Mars Industries, the most powerful corporation in human history?” She turned her back on him, unable to face him with her next question. “Are you really so eager to die?”

  He put his drink down on the windowsill and placed his hands gently on her shoulders, unwilling to hide the depths of his pain any longer. “We all die eventually. What I see is a chance to make an impact on a cause that affects billions of people as well as righting an unanswered injustice. I have tried to remain here on the SkySail, ignoring the outside world and forgetting the cruelty and vagaries that the outside world visited upon us. I am just one man with a desire to make a difference, but if I go to Mars, there are others like me already there fighting. Then I become just one man in an army, part of something much bigger than an individual with a gun. I will become part of a cause, or at least, an idea that at the end of all of this pain there is justice and peace for those who deserve it, and freedom for those who need it.”

  Vera’s chose her words carefully. “You cannot arm the rebels if you join them. Creating an arms race will only destroy what hope the Rebels have of ever achieving victory. And you can never let them dictate your ideals for you; you must choose what you want and who you are before you go. Everyone you meet will try to change you. You must recognize this and watch for it. Evolving your opinions and ideals is a mark of maturity, but to give in will destroy everything you fight for. And you must be aware of betrayal. By entering the war in this manner, you risk upsetting the balance of power as it currently stands. They will try to assassinate you, set traps for you, and even the people you fight for will probably betray you at some point if you look like you are succeeding, because you succeeded where they did not. You must understand all these risks because there are many things worse than death, Mikkhael, as we well know.”

  He did not reply. He did not need to. She was right. He stood next to her and they stared out the window together, watching the clouds flow past in silence, mulling on their own thoughts. Eventually, he left for his own quarters with no further words said between them. There was no anger, no resentment at the things said, for they had reached an understanding, a consensus of action.

  They would prepare for war.

  Chapter 3 – L.E.A.D.S

  “The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine.” – Nikola Tesla

  Mikkhael handed Kurtis and Kiryl each a data slate with plans pre-loaded on it.

  “What is L.E.A.D.S.?” Kiryl asked.

  “It stands for Low-Energy Automated Desalinization Plant. If we are going to do this, then we are going to need an ungodly amount of credits at every stage. What we have from the government settlement is enormous and has done well through all of our various investments and companies we started; but there is no telling how much money we may need in the end and here is a plan to make more. I know everyone is willing to contribute, but this is all happening because of me, so that means I have to work harder than anyone and find every way to contribute that I can. And for now, that means doing what I do best, finding big solutions to big problems and then profiting off them, just like with the SkySail.”

  Mikkhael continued, “I’ve been tinkering with a few various concepts for a while. Building the SkySail was incredibly fun and interesting for me and I really miss the days when we were all involved with its design and construction. So, I’ve never actually stopped toying with new ideas. Our investments in the energy sector we’ve made have continued to pay off, and all of those solar plants and offshore wind turbine farms tie directly into this concept. This is more like an evolution that is building off our previous efforts than something entirely new.”

  “A lot of people have tried to make desalinization work Mikkhael, especially the oil kingdoms. For nearly everyone it’s just too energy consumptive. Did you find a way around that?” Kurtis asked him.

  “That’s the thing, every attempt I’ve ever seen is attempting to re-invent the wheel. Engineers are trained to create fancy, complex solutions by their nature. And that’s just it, Nature. They tend to assume their processes are better than natures when we already have a near perfect example right in front of us. Now granted, this idea isn’t as efficient in a lot of locations; but the amazing thing is it actually works best in locations that need it the most. Dry, arid areas that have deserts next to them, places that tend to have large populations and minimal fresh-water supplies.” Mikkhael said.

  “So why would your idea work where everyone else has failed? What makes it different?” Kurtis asked, both of them were fixed on the data slates, reading while listening intently. They were as excited about a new project as Mikkhael. In the background Kiryl poured over the data, eagerly absorbing every detail while Kurtis talked for him.

  “The biggest difference isn’t that it relies on any one critical process to be better than existing attempts. Instead, it takes advantage of a number of factors that combine together in order to create a system that is better than what is already available. And I have no idea why the absolutely asinine pre-requisite exists that desalinization plants need to be located on prime real estate within a metro area, but that’s the first barrier to break. For the last two centuries, North Americans found it worthwhile to transport oil via pipelines from the Alaskan territories all the way down to refineries in southern Texas in order to process it, and then transport it back around the country to wherever it was used. And if that’s not stupid than I don’t know what is.

  He continued, “There is a shortage of stable water supplies in a huge number of geographical regions, an essential ingredient for life, and there is so much co
rruption and stupidity centered around water usage that nothing ends up happening because it’s too complicated and there are too many vested interests. That’s where the money comes in. We are going to use it to barrel our way through the collective stupidity, and then those who obstruct us will be the ones to reimburse us for the problems they cause.” Mikkhael said excitedly, pacing around the room as he talked, needing an outlet for his nervous energy.

  “So how exactly would this work then?” Kiryl asked.

  Mikkhael began going through the report line by line with them, explaining how it would work. “We start by targeting areas that have minimal water sources with a lot of arid land around them in the American region, because that will help us prove the concept before expanding to other countries. California, all of the areas around the Gulf of California, parts of Texas and Georgia are all ideal for the LEADS process. First, we find ourselves some allies. Construction firms that will do the eventual work, pipe manufacturers, and glass manufacturers will all jump at the chance to join us. We assemble our team and head to the State level. A younger, ambitious Senator or representative is going to be our best bet because they will get to take credit for our idea, something all politicians love to do. The State’s will jump at the chance once we show them the benefits of a more stable water supply to help even out natural fluctuations, lots of extra jobs and tax revenue that we bring to the table for them.”